


May Death Never Stop You

by naripetal



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akechi gets therapy, Akira has a Palace, Akira has so much guilt and regrets, Akira needs therapy, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Gun Violence, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Mutilation, References to Abuse, Suicidal Thoughts, post 5 royal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:54:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25988542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/naripetal/pseuds/naripetal
Summary: Going back home after possibly having one of the craziest years of your life sucks, but Akira does his best to try stay under the radar. However, many nights of loneliness and staying up alone with your own deepest, darkest thoughts can give birth to distortions that you necessarily can't control or know about.[P5R Spoilers]
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 48
Kudos: 328





	1. Homecoming

It had been a hard enough year with saving the world, let alone doing it again shortly after, but he wouldn’t trade the past year for anything else. 

Going back home wasn’t something Akira was looking forward to, but now that he was on that train ride home, he realized how badly he wanted to stay in Tokyo. He was sure Sojiro would’ve let him stay if he begged him and offered to pay rent. Futaba would’ve probably bullied him into it as well, but that’s neither here nor there. 

All he could do now is focus on the blurred trees and roads they passed by. When he reached the station, he didn’t bother looking for his parents, and made a beeline for his home. Just as he expected, his parents weren’t home, and the house looked as if no one lived in the space. The pale space looked more like a hotel instead of a home. There weren’t many decorations or photos, just some pieces of art they could use as conversation pieces. The space solely seemed to exist to present his parent’s wealth and entertain their potential guests with their lavish, minimalist living style. 

“Home sweet home.”   
Mona jumped out of his bag and inspected the area.   
“This place is so sad.”  
“You’re telling me.”

His parents didn’t really bother with him when they came home a few hours later. They saw Mona and asked him if he had all his shots. Besides that, they didn’t really care as long as Akira picked up after him and took care of him to which Akira answered with a simple thumbs up, not looking away from the television.

Akira’s life became boring overnight after the exciting events of the past year, and he longed for excitement, but this small town wasn’t going to give him what he wanted. All he had to do was hold out for this one year before he could go back running to Tokyo. It wasn’t going to be as exciting, but at least he has confidants there who would be more than happy to see him and even offer him work, food, and a place to stay if he needed it. 

The quiet streets of his hometown are eerily quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, but it was by no means a rural area, so at least there were things to do like hanging out at parks or at cafes. It’s gonna take some time getting used to silence again though.

He got too used to the big city, and every night, he wishes he could’ve stayed. He was at peace there. Here, everyone knew him and what had happened, and they all judged him without knowing the full story. It didn’t help that his parents were eager to get rid of him as fast as they could, so it wouldn’t affect their work. All he could do now is hope that everyone forgot about him and hope that he’d be able to finish up this final year of high school in peace. 

Peace isn't something Akira would be having this year. Much like the previous year, his teachers were already warning him about acting up. 

“I don’t care that your record was cleared because some crooked politician came clean. You still had it, and we don’t need you to sully our school’s reputation.” 

While every fiber in Akira’s being wanted to counter with a witty one-liner, Akira learned to pick his battles. He let the teacher make his empty threats, knowing that he’s more afraid of him than he is of him. When push came to shove, Akira wasn’t afraid to shove.

When he entered his classroom, he noticed a few of his former classmates panic and avoided eye contact with him. He paid them no mind as he took his seat. For the most part, his classmates left him alone, except for the tough kids who thought they had something to prove against the ex-delinquent. 

Akira would never place a hand on them, he’d somehow manage to maneuver himself out from a disadvantage and intimidate the everloving fuck out of his aggressors. While he never laid a hand on them, it didn’t stop onlookers from spreading rumors that Akira was a part of some super sleeper agent program in Tokyo. He didn’t mind, at least people didn’t bother him as much anymore. 

Oddly enough, he preferred being at school instead of home. While people tried to tiptoe around Akira, they at least acknowledged him and talked to him even if it was about clean-up duty or gym class. Very few mustered up the courage to actually talk to him, but they usually asked about the Phantom Thieves, and he soon found out that people here were convinced that the group was a PR stunt from the government as a way to expose Shido’s corruption. He didn’t take too kindly to the theory, but he humored it and thought the theories were interesting once he heard someone link Madarame as the reason Medjed got involved. Other theories linked Kaneshiro to Okumura, and those weren’t actually too far-fetched to believe.

At home, his parents ignored him. Oftentimes, they weren’t home, so he had a free reign of the house, but he didn’t have much to do besides watch TV and read. Mona came and went as he pleased, but he was always back in time to force Akira to bed at a reasonable hour if he didn’t have a lot of homework to do. 

While Mona forced him into bed, it didn’t mean that he was able to get some rest. For the first few months, he was; however, as the months passed, he began to doubt his past decisions. He didn’t know if he did the right thing. While everyone told him it was the right thing, was it really right of him to deprive people of what they considered happiness, even if it came at the cost of their free will? 

His friends were happy. They all got what they wanted in their realities; he even got his wish: Akechi’s survival, even though Akechi was the first one to reject the false reality. Akechi was steadfast in his convictions; he never faltered, even when he knew he wasn’t going to come out of something in one piece. He did what needed to be done, and he didn’t care about the cost. Akechi would’ve never felt guilty for doing the right thing, but Akira was swallowed by guilt. 

He single-handedly shattered his friends’ dreams because Akechi told him to wake them up. Akechi had his head straight and never let sentiments cloud his judgement during that final semester. Akechi knew he was going to die if he did the right thing. Akechi forced him to make this choice; Akira wanted everyone to be happy, but Akira knew he had to do the right thing. Right?

Many nights he’d stay up, haunted by the smiles and the happiness that radiated from his friends as their wildest dreams came true. The face that haunted him the most was Akechi’s face when they destroyed Maruki’s palace. He thought no one was looking, but he saw his glassy stare that quickly dried up the second he noticed he was caught. It was then he began to doubt all of his actions, but it was too late to do anything. 

He should’ve listened to his gut.

Upon returning to the true reality, his friends were quick to announce their plans to move forward with their lives. While they’ve all moved on and are doing better, he feels like everything would’ve been better for him if he had taken the deal.

Not much has changed from that reality to actual reality. At first, the group chat was as active as the most chaotic group chat, but over time, messages to their chat usually ended up seen, but usually unanswered. His friends couldn’t be bothered with him and had moved on to bigger and better things, and he was happy for them, but loneliness stings. The days where he was reminded of how lonely he was hurt the most; those were the days he wished he took the deal the most.

His friends didn’t need him anymore; that much was obvious. They used him as their therapist friend and once they got what they needed out of him, they cast him aside. Now they’re all better and living their best lives and forgot all about him. At least in Maruki’s reality, he had Akechi to keep him company. All he has left of him is the glove he dramatically threw at him after their duel in Mementos that he keeps in a locked box in his desk to make sure no one touches it. 

The memory makes him laugh at the overly dramatic detective’s declaration of war. Many people thought HE was dramatic, but this guy was Shakespearean, right down to the daddy issues and murder. 

Akechi murdered people, yes. Yes, Akechi tried to murder him. Yes, Akechi is a bit of a psychopath and a bit of a sociopath, but at least he was there for him. He constantly pushed him to do the right thing, even if it killed everyone’s true happiness because it was the right thing to do. 

It was the right thing to do, but it doesn’t change the fact that Akira knowingly killed his friends’ hopes and dreams. For that, he shouldn’t be forgiven, even if it was the right thing to do. That’s the funny thing about death, it comes for everyone and everything. It just takes different forms, and this form was Akira himself.


	2. Who Are You Now?

Death had followed Akechi everywhere. It was in his childhood, and it thrived throughout his teenage years. He was even dead at some point, but the cruelest joke was waking up in December to find that Shido confessed to everything, and everyone had forgotten about him. 

Whether this was a blessing or a curse remained to be seen. 

The days after Shido’s confession showed the fickle nature of society. He found that no one blinked an eye at him or cared about him once Shido became the main topic of all the talk shows and news headlines, which is something he was thankful for. While he was annoyed he wasn’t there to savor his downfall in person, he knew his front row seat would have ended with one of Shido’s cleaners putting a bullet in between his eyes. 

He figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get the help he was trying to avoid for so long and get out of Tokyo just in case a cleaner went looking for him after the shock lulled. All of this was surprising to him. He never thought he’d be able to finally work on letting go of all the anger and spite that fueled him for years and rehabilitate, and as much as he hated to admit it, he had Akira to thank for this opportunity. 

In true Akira fashion, he decided to look on the bright side, for once in his life. He was given a chance to escape and start again without any strings, but guilt ate at him. He was behind the mental shutdowns, and while no one died as a direct result of those, he did kill a handful of people. They paled in comparison to the numbers of people Shido had the Yakuza kill, but he still had a headcount. He wasn’t necessarily proud of it, but he reasoned they were horrible people, and they had it coming. At least, that’s what he told himself so he could get some semblance of sleep at night. Now, he didn’t have to silence the voice in his head, now he’s finally able to confront it and start to heal. 

The trip to the clinic brought up a lot of memories he tried to block out. Fragments of him sitting on his mother’s lap as she held him close and rested her face in his hair as he laughed that it tickled; fragments of him plucking a flower from a bush to put in her hair; fragments of his mother holding him while they slept, knowing they were safe. Those were all memories he cherished, but couldn’t bring himself to remember due to all the pain they brought him.

When he arrived at the clinic, there were a few familiar faces who knew him and his mother. They knew of their circumstances to an extent and were glad to see that he was ready to process everything from his childhood, unaware of the events of his teenage years. 

They let him stay in a spare room for as long as he needed. It was a small room, but it had the basics: bed, tv, dresser, and desk which was more than enough for him. Before leaving Tokyo, he caught wind of a rumor that Akira was serving time in jail, and his friends were creating petitions to release him. He did more research into it and came up with a series of documents to help speed up his release. He sent them to Sae in through a fake email, knowing that she would have a role in his hearings. There wasn’t much he could do beyond this point, so he began his journey to healing. 

Therapy wasn’t the easiest for him; it also wasn’t anything like he imagined. He was under the impression that therapy was meant to overhaul your mindset and fix you in one go with antidepressants. However, he found that it was a much more realistic, organic approach, but he had a very hard time talking in the beginning. He was so used to bottling up everything and just focusing on his goal, but here he had to be vulnerable, something he wasn’t used to. 

Despite the fact he felt more confused than when he first arrived, he continued to make an effort.   
Months had gone by and he felt like he hadn’t gotten anywhere, but he has noticed that he’s started to make peace with his anger at Shido and the world, little by little. However, he couldn’t bring himself to talk about what was really keeping him up at night: his involvement with Shido’s corruption. 

He felt that he needed to atone via a court of law. He thought of the irony of the situation; him, putting himself at the mercy of the cold room ruled by the affluent that only pushed the agenda of the affluent under the guise of “justice”. That “justice” is why Akira ended up on probation; that’s why his mother had to run for her life; but that’s why he has to go through the court of supposed law full of his co-conspirators. 

When he called Sae, she was shocked to hear his voice, but she didn’t hang up on him knowing there was a deeper story than the one she could piece together with the bits and pieces she knew of. He was surprised she came down at the end of the week, but he was happy to see her.   
They went to a nearby cafe where Sae began with thanking him for his help in the reversal. 

“I didn’t do anything.”  
“Your paperwork did help expedite the process, so it’s something.”  
“How did you know it was me?”  
“It had a feeling it’d be you.”

Of course she’d know his patterns when it came to paperwork. They worked together for years and confided in each other for some cases; it’s no surprise that an prosecutor as sharp as her wouldn’t notice his paperwork. Wait. 

His eyes widened and worry coated his voice.  
“Does he know I’m here?”

Sae blinked at his outburst, but shook her head.   
“No. He actually went home a few months ago.”

Oh, that’s right. He was only supposed to be in Tokyo for a year. So much had changed in that year, it’s still so hard to believe that he’s here now trying to move on with his life much like the rest of the world. He was broken out of his thoughts when Sae continued her progress report. She told him about how his friends managed to come together and how everyone said they were moving on with their lives. He didn’t care much for the rest of the Phantom Thieves, but he let her ramble on before she mentioned him specifically. 

“I’ve heard bits and pieces of your situation from him.” 

He felt himself lean back into the chair behind him and readied his legs to leave the cafe.

“What did he tell you?”

She shook her head. “Not a lot.”

He didn’t believe it. Akira must’ve said something to her knowing their relationship. 

“What did he say?” He pressed on as he leaned towards her.

She sighed. “Your end goal was to kill him to avenge someone you lost.”

Oh. That’s it. Even in so-called death, he continues to impress him. 

“You look like you don’t believe it.” 

“It’s not the wildest thing I’ve heard. Remember, it’s been a wild year.”

They talked a little bit about the whys and hows of his situation, but Akechi only answered in short answers that hinted at more sinister implications, but gave enough information to satisfy her questions.

“I don’t find it hard to believe that he made you execute out such atrocious acts, but knowing that you actually did is shocking.”

“I didn’t have to do them. He had Yakuza to carry out his assassinations. I just made everything easier to cover up.”

He took a sip of his coffee. 

“I was convenient, never necessary.” 

They continued to talk a little more, and he asked her what he could do to be tried. She told him that due to his involvement as a minor, he would get off with a slap on the wrist in the form of some jail time, but at least 6 months if he had good behavior. He was disappointed, but he knew that was going to be the result.

“You don’t like that?”

“I don’t feel like it’s enough.”

“You can ask for forgiveness.”

He stared at her as if she had grown three heads, puzzled by the mere thought of begging for forgiveness.

“I knowingly did something wrong; I have no right to ask for forgiveness.” 

“In life, we don’t always get what we want or what we deserve, but you were given a chance to start anew. Do something with it that you can be proud of. Show those you’ve hurt that you’ve changed and want to be better.” 

He let out a small chuckle.   
“You sound like my therapist.” 

They continued talking about what had happened to Shido and her involvement in his case. He and his main co-conspirators were jailed, and Shido now sits in jail for corruption, embezzlement, and murder. His co-conspirators were also found guilty of lesser crimes, but they are all serving time. Then the topic he was trying to avoid came up.

“He reached out to me a while ago asking about you.”  
“What did he say?”  
“He asked me to keep an eye out for you.” 

That absolute fool still had hope he was alive even though they both thought he was going to be dead if they fixed reality? He never ceased to amaze him.

“Considering you didn’t tell him about my involvement in his case, I’m assuming you won’t tell him about our meeting?”  
“No. I feel that it’s better for you to go to him when you feel you’re ready.”

Sae Nijima was a lot of things: intuitive, relentless, caring, but she never overstepped her boundaries when it came to people’s personal and private affairs. Even though he was on the opposing side, he came to see her as a mentor of sorts, and he was thankful.

He walked Sae to the station and sent her off. He walked back to the clinic and for the first time in months, he was able to fall asleep when his head hit the pillow. He heard operatic music fill his ears, and he jolted awake. He sat up and found himself dressed in his detective’s uniform inside a prison cell. He turned around when he heard a soft voice.

“Hello, Harbinger.”

Right in front of him was a small blonde, pale girl in a blue dress holding a book, and right behind her was a rich blue room, with a plethora of torture weapons in the distance. Well, that’s a tad bit disturbing. 

“Lavenza.” 

She curtsied. 

“Hello, Harbinger.” 

He stood up and walked towards her before finding himself leaning against the cell walls.

“Where am I?”

“Welcome to the Velvet Room. This is a place in between dream and reality, mind and matter.” 

He heard about this place from Akira when he’d stare off into the abyss during the infiltration of Maruki’s palace, but to be in it is a little haunting. However, hearing the opera singer had him wondering if he could ask for a recording of the singer. However, that’s a thought for a more appropriate time. 

“Why am I here?”

Her grip on her book tightened.

“It’s the Trickster. He’s been corrupted.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Corrupted?”  
“Yes.”

“The Trickster is under great duress, and if he continues in this state, he will cease to exist and take the world with him.”

That’s...not surprising. Akira was able to dethrone two gods within the span of three months; it’s not a farfetched idea that he himself would have the power to bring about the apocalypse. However, one thing about all of this didn’t sit well with him. 

“Why come to me? Why not approach his friends?”

“You have the power of the wildcard, the power to control multiple people. However, you lacked the bonds that were necessary to allow the power to reach its full potential.”

“...I see no point in building these bonds now.”

“There is no need to, but you do have a strong bond with the Trickster. Remember that.” 

“I suppose there’s no other alternative. What do I need to do?” 

“That depends on you, Harbinger. You’re the one who had the strongest bond with him. Your strong bond brought you back to life; therefore, you have the power to lighten or darken his future.” 

So he’s only alive because Akira willed it into existence? It makes sense; he wasn’t that lucky. Life enjoyed beating him down, and when he managed to crawl himself back up, life knocked him back down. In any normal circumstances, life would’ve just let him die. Well, there’s no point in lamenting, he was alive and well, so he might as well try to help Akira. 

“...Do you have any clues about his distortion?” 

Lavenza sat down and pulled out a deck of cards, shuffled them, and pulled three out. She placed them on the ground before flipping them up.

“We have the Fool, the World, and Death.”

“...Very well.”

Alarm bells began to ring, and Lavenza returned the cards to the deck before rising to her feet.

“It appears that our time is up. I wish you well on your journey.” 

Akechi woke up in a cold sweat to the sound of his alarm ringing. He silenced his phone before going back to lie in bed and process the events that just passed and ponder his next move. He knew the Fool card represented Akira, but the other two cards were a mystery. What did he consider the World and what did Death represent?

His alarm rang again, and he decided it was time to start his day. He picked up his phone and shut off his alarm, but a familiar red icon on his home screen got his attention. He clicked it, and the familiar search engine popped up; he inputted Akira’s name, and it was a hit. Well, one-third of the work was already done. He couldn’t sit here all day and insert potential answers in hopes that one was a hit. He opted to continue about his day in hopes that answers would come to him throughout the day.   
He didn’t have a session scheduled for today, so he focused on assisting people around the clinic with their documents and went over some of his own documents that Sae sent him for his upcoming trial. When he first arrived at the clinic he went in with the intent to get in and get out as fast as he could, but he saw there were people there who needed help with getting away from abusive situations and navigating the system to ensure their safety. He saw himself in a lot of these people, and he offered his assistance. However, in true Goro Akechi fashion, it was direct and to the point which wasn’t always taken kindly by the others at first and did cause problems, but over time, less and less people were offended by his aloof demeanor. 

However, today, he wasn’t able to completely focus on the documents; he was more concerned with Akira’s potential ‘world’. Akira never talked about his hometown or anything about his life. He always brushed it off saying it was boring, lifeless, unnecessary to mention, but anyone could see that he loved being in Tokyo. He was always looking up places to go, places to eat, places to sight see. He made so many friends and learned so much in this past year. He’s sure that Akira probably had plans to run back to Tokyo after he graduated high school. He loved the city and everything it gave him and everything it has to offer him for the future.

Wait a minute. He put the papers he was looking at down before making a beeline to his room, ignoring the confused calls behind him. There’s no way it would be THIS easy. It can’t be…can it? He entered and locked his room before pulling out his phone, opening the Meta-Nav, and inserting ‘Tokyo’ into the location slot.

It was a hit. 

He stared at the screen in disbelief. That was so much easier than he thought. One more keyword to go at least, but if the heart of his distortion is Tokyo, he had to go to Tokyo. It had been 10 months since he first came to the clinic, and he hoped that he didn’t have to leave anytime soon, but it seems that it was time for him to return to Tokyo, confront his past, and forge his future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's reading this! It means a lot!


	3. Train to Tokyo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you get more than you bargain for on train rides.

Traveling by train is an interesting thing. One minute you’re looking at empty pastures and the next you could see the beginnings of a city. While others were more concerned with looking out the window to point out the interesting features of the journey, Akechi was more concerned with trying to figure out the final piece of the puzzle, but inputting any and all thoughts he had relating to the final piece of the puzzle had been met with rejection.

He knew Akira was a rather simple, but eccentric type. His palace had to be something simple, but at the same time, be grandiose and larger than life. He began with the simple things like graveyard, tomb, catacomb, but then moved on to more specific words like mausoleum, charnel house, and sepulchre. None of these words were a hit, and he felt like he was running out of time. Lavenza never said how long the palace would remain, but if nothing was done, Akira would bring the apocalypse. 

He wished he had more to work with in terms of a time frame. At least that would quell some of his anxiety. Time was of the essence. For all he knows, today could be the last day he’s able to save him. He didn’t have time to dawdle more than he already had. Every minute that passes feels like he’s pushing what little luck he has left. He inputted a random word and the Meta-Nav responded. 

“Incorrect.” 

He let out a frustrated sigh; blindly inputting each intrusive thought wasn’t doing him any favors, and his butt was becoming numb. He rose from his seat and walked out of his cabin to get some blood flowing, maybe that would help him get some clarity. 

He walked down the aisle of the car and overheard a few conversations. One family was excited to see Tokyo and visit the Skytree; there was also a group of people his age in full cosplay ready to raid Akihabara and Harajuku. Ah, the blessing of ignorance. He had to admit, he was a little bit envious of their state, for he wasn’t blessed with that gift. However, if the alternative was unknowingly allowing the apocalypse, he’d rather live without it. He reached the end of the car to realize that his car didn't connect to the next car, and he turned around to return to his seat. Hopefully he could figure it out by the time he reached Tokyo. 

He took a step forward and stepped on something soft which followed by a loud yelp. He looked down and saw a black cat with big blue eyes on the verge of tears. The cat’s eyes widened and Akechi’s eyes widened in shock once he saw a familiar yellow collar. 

“You’re alive?!” Morgana screeched.

Great. Akechi collected himself, let out a sigh, and continued the trip back to his cabin hoping that Morgana wouldn’t draw more attention to himself. 

“Hey!” Morgana called out behind him. 

Has he always been this loud? He continued walking to his seat. He couldn’t be seen talking to a cat like this, but Morgana, on the other hand, was more preoccupied with processing the sight before him. 

“DON’T WALK AWAY FROM ME AKECHI!” He continued screeching. 

“HEY I’M TAL-” Morgana was cut off by the sound of voices coming from a nearby cabin. 

“Is there a cat on the train?”   
“Mommy! If I find it, can I keep it?”

Well, that took longer than expected. Morgana quickly scurried over to Akechi as he opened the door to his booth. Morgana raced in before Akechi shut it behind him just as the little girl opened the door to look for the cat. 

“Nice to see you’re still as loud as ever.” Akechi began.

“Shut up. I was in shock.” He paused. “...Akira told us you died in the engine room.”

Akechi clicked his tongue. Right. That was the last time they saw him alive in this reality, and Maruki confirmed that he was only alive in his reality because of Akira. Everyone believed that he was dead. He should start steeling himself for these reactions. It’d be wouldn’t be in his best interest if he wasn’t ready for these kinds of outbursts. 

“That’s what we were both told, but now I’m here.”

Morgana walked over to Akechi and tapped his paw against his sleeve. Akechi raised an eyebrow at his action. Before he could ask what he was doing, Morgana asked the dreaded question. 

“How are you alive?”

Akechi paused. He never really thought about why he was alive. He just knew he somehow made it out alive. Regardless, he didn’t know to answer the question. 

“...I wish I had a proper answer.” 

An awkward silence fell between the two. Akechi chose to stare out the window, in hopes to avoid Morgana’s intense gaze. He had little interest in being interrogated about the events of his life prior to this chance meeting. He did have a plethora of questions about Akira, but he didn’t want to come off as desperate to the cat. It’s a foolish thought, but Akechi was still apprehensive about asking for help and expressing his true intentions given his...complicated history with them. Either way, he has to swallow his pride on some level and ask; nothing would get done if he tried doing this on his own. He knew that much, but he had to start small.

“How did you get here?”

“I snuck on.”

Well, that didn’t give him much intel. Okay, time to switch to something more direct. 

“ Is Akira with you?”

“No. I’m by myself.”

What? Is he serious? Knowing that Akira isn’t himself and in a place where he has zero support or surveillance only ignited a fire in him. He grabbed Morgana and lifted him to look him in the eye. 

“You left him alone?” He coldy asked, irritation clear in his tone. 

It felt as if time slowly passed. Each second felt like a minute, and Morgana found it difficult to breathe, frozen under Akechi’s intense, piercing gaze. Morgana knew he had to choose his words carefully. If he answered this question wrong, he was sure the former detective was going to skin him alive. 

“I had to! ...I...I had to get in contact with everyone somehow...”

Akechi’s gaze stayed on Morgana as if he was searching for a sign to trust his words. Morgana wondered why Akechi cared so much about him leaving Akira alone. He was going to be fine on his own. Wait, how would Akechi know something’s wrong with Akira. Morgana’s eyes widened in realization. 

“How do you know something’s wrong with Akira?” 

Akechi’s gaze softened as he put Morgana down on the seat next to his.

“...Lavenza asked for my help.”

Morgana’s ears perked up at the mention of the Velvet Room attendant. It had to be serious if she went to Akechi for help. 

“What did Lady Lavenza say?”

“Before I tell you that, you have to tell me about Akira.” 

Akechi needed to know about Akira’s state. He was worried about his well-being. He had to know he wasn’t going to do something to himself in his current state. Morgana sensed Akechi’s concern and let out a sigh. 

“...He’s not himself.” Morgana lamented.

Morgana went on to talk about how at first Akira had a hard time going back home, but he assumed it was just a case of homesickness. He thought he’d attune and be back to his normal self if things stayed some sort of normal. At first, he was on the phone all the time with the group, but since everyone was moving around and got really busy, they ended up falling out of contact until it was just Futaba, Yusuke, and Akira talking. Then the semester started, and they stopped contacting him. 

He continued to talk about how people at school were afraid of Akira, and some even tried picking fights with him, including teachers. Overall, he wasn’t happy. Some people talked to him, but they still feared him on some level. Morgana mentioned he tried to keep Akira some company, but he’d brush him off, saying he was okay; he was just tired of being bored. He just needed to find something to do. 

At first he figured it was a part of readjusting, but he started to notice that Akira was slowly doing things that were out of character for him. When his parents had gatherings, Akira was told to stay in his room or to leave and come back afterwards. Usually, Akira and Morgana would just stay in and watch tv, do homework, or just hang out and talk about anything. After a while, he noticed that Akira started to sneak out, stay out all night, and return home after school the next day. However, he’d come back with bruises, and when Morgana confronted him, he’d just answer with a smile and say it’s just something for him to feel alive. 

Akechi opened his mouth to ask about his activities, but before he could make a sound, Morgana answered.

“I was never able to follow him and figure out what he was doing. He’d wait until I fell asleep, and he didn’t have a pattern to his actions.” 

Morgana continued with his course of action. 

“...so I came here to get help from Futaba and Yusuke in hopes that they’d tell everyone else, but now you’re telling me it’s much worse than I thought.” 

Akechi told Morgana of his meeting with Lavenza, the keyword hints she gave him, and how he has two of them inputted in the search engine. He’s just having trouble figuring out the final word. 

“Is there anything Lady Lavenza told you?” Morgana asked. 

Lavenza’s words rang in Akechi’s ear. 

“He will cease to exist and take the world with him if nothing’s done.” Akechi repeated.

“Take the world with him?” Morgana repeated. 

“The fool thinks he’s like some god that’s going to take us all to his own twisted Underworld.” Akechi sneered. 

A sound came from Akechi’s phone. 

“Destination found. Starting navigation.” 

Morgana and Akechi stared at each other in disbelief and quickly looked out the window as the clear blue skies morphed to sullen grays, blacks, and blues. Tokyo was transforming from a bustling city to a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Barren trees replaced the gorgeous cityscape, the roads that surrounded the city were replaced with rivers that converged and disappeared into a cave entrance. 

The train itself began to shake as it transformed into a small wooden boat. The duo looked around and found that all of the other passengers were nowhere to be seen. They figured they were okay since they didn’t make it into the palace.

The duo tried to jump out of the boat, but were stopped by a barrier around the boat. The duo figured they were stuck and waited for it to lead them to its destination. Akechi thought it was weird that he didn’t feel a weight on his head. He looked at Morgana and saw that he had transformed, but Akechi remained in his civilian clothes. Morgana had noticed his lack of armor as well.

“Hey, are you going to be okay without a weapon?” Morgana asked.  
“I’ll be fine.” Akechi responded. 

The boat went down the river, getting closer and closer to the eerie cave entrance. While there was nothing to indicate something sinister, the duo got a bad feeling from the pitch black entrance. Being trapped on this boat wasn’t helping in quelling their anxiety, but at least Morgana had access to his persona just in case things went south upon entering. 

As they reached the entrance, Akechi scooped up Morgana into his grasp, holding him close just in case they got separated. 

“Scared, Crow?” Morgana smirked.

Akechi shrugged and cooly answered   
“Not really. Just thinking I’d need a meat shield.”

“HEY! TH-” Morgana began, but was cut off when everything around them went black. Once their eyes adjusted to the darkness, a blue light began to emit from under them. They looked over the boat and saw it was coming from the river. Upon further examination they noticed something eerie in the water. 

“Are those people?” Morgana asked. 

“It looks like it…” Akechi answered. 

Akechi made eye contact with one of the people in the water. Their empty gaze entranced him, and hushed voices began to fill his head. 

‘Join us.’

‘You can rest now.’

‘Come, find peace.’ 

The people extended their hands to him, and Akechi, still trapped in the gaze of the person, began reaching out to the water, enticed by the spell of the people in the water. Before he could make contact, Morgana noticed and yelped. 

“HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

Akechi’s concentration broke, and he started at Morgana, confusion written all over his face. He started at his hand, mere millimeters from touching the water, and pulled himself back into the boat. Morgana let out a frustrated sigh, and Akechi returned it with one of his own. He let his guard down, and it most likely would’ve cost him dearly if Morgana didn’t break his concentration. 

“Hey we-” Morgana began and was interrupted by the sudden shaking of the boat. The water flow sped up and took their little boat through a series of twists and turns. The two held on to the boat for dear life, knowing that if they went into the water, they most likely wouldn’t make it out alive. All of a sudden, the water flow slowed and the river began to part. The duo rose and steadied themselves for what was coming. 

In the middle of the water, came a shrouded black figure. Anxiety sank into Akechi’s chest; something about the figure gave him an uneasy feeling, like it was something he knew he didn’t want to see. However, he had nowhere to run. They were trapped, and the figure kept coming closer and closer. The figure dropped the robe, only to reveal…

“...Akira.”   
“AKIRA?!”

Only this wasn’t the Akira they both knew. This Akira had one part of his hair slicked back and held with a cross pin. He had a coat on, similar to his Joker one, but he had a white button up shirt, a corset, black pants and heeled boots. The part that stuck out to them most was the tired, despondent look in his now yellow eyes.

“You don’t belong here. This place is strictly for the dead.” Akira stated as he snapped his fingers to summon a winged shadow.

“AKIRA” Morgana cried, and shadow Akira was unfazed by the cat’s desperate cries. Akechi was in shock. It was one thing to know that Akira had a palace; it was another to actually see the manifestation. He shook himself out of his daze and charged at Akira. 

Akira, unfazed, stepped forward and ordered the shadow to send them away with a simple “...Goodbye.”

“AKIRA WAIT!” Morgana’s cry echoed against the cave walls, and the final look they got of shadow Akira was of him disappearing into the darkness as the river went back to normal as everything went black.

Akechi felt a heavy weight on his face. His hands grabbed the mound of fur as he opened his eyes, blinded by the light of reality. 

“Attention passengers, we are approaching Tokyo. Please gather your belongings as we make our stop.”

He sighed and put Morgana down on the seat next to him as he began to collect his things. Morgana came around a few minutes later and stared expectantly at Akechi who raised an eyebrow at the cat’s behavior.

“What?” He snapped.

“How are we going to get me out of here?”

Akechi opened up his briefcase and looked at Morgana.

“I’m not getting in there.”

“Then what do YOU suggest?”

Akechi stepped off the train and made his way to the line to get to Kichijoji. He passed a window in the Station Square and got a good look at himself. He looked absolutely ridiculous. Morgana jumped into his coat and formed an unnatural looking ball coming out of his stomach. It looked worse because he had to tighten the belt around his coat to comfortably support the cat’s weight and save him from having an onslaught of claw marks on his torso. 

‘He’s going to pay for this.’

Once they reached the room Akechi was staying at, Morgana popped out of his coat and stared at Akechi.

“What now?” Akechi deadpanned. 

“We need to do something about Akira…”

“Obviously.”

“We need to get in contact with everyone.”

As much as he hated to admit it, he knew Morgana was right. Well, there’s no use in dawdling. He might as well get this reunion over with. Akechi walked to the door and put on his shoes.

“Hey, where are you going?” Morgana asked.

“To contact everyone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who's been reading this! ;_; 
> 
> Come talk to me on twitter @naripetal


	4. Forgotten Pieces

During the train ride to Yongen, Akechi felt a pit in his stomach that only sank deeper with each stop. Maybe he should just leave Morgana at Leblanc and have him explain everything. No, Morgana would most definitely tell them that he was the reason he was able to find out about Akira’s palace. Maybe he could just...no nothing he could concoct would ever work out due to the nature of the situation. He had no other choice but to approach them with Morgana if he was ever going to help Akira.

The only thing he didn’t like about this was the fact that he failed to ask Lavenza for a deadline. He was sure the faster the better, but he could only move so fast and didn’t know how big and complicated this palace would be. They only managed to see a part of it, but the image of Akira’s shadow is the only thing he remembers. His cold, dejected stare stuck with him. He has never seen Akira so broken before. He’s seen him in many different states, but he never thought he’d ever see him in such a desolate state. The pit in his stomach sank even more thinking about it. It shouldn’t be like this.

“Hey...you’re crush...ing me.” Morgana cried.

“Oh. My apologies.” Akechi whispered as he loosened his grip on the bag. 

‘Now arriving in Yongen. Now arriving in Yongen.’

The walk to Leblanc was a lot shorter than he remembered. It was easy to see that not much had changed in the past year. Everyone had gone back to living their lives and were preoccupied with whatever life had thrown at them now. The days of the Phantom Thieves, Akechi Goro, and Masayoshi Shido were all behind them, yet here he was at Leblanc’s door trying to pick up the pieces of that year, so he could finally move on like the rest of the world. 

He reached out for the door handle as he took a deep breath. He opened the door and cautiously entered. The smell of coffee and curry filled his nostrils, and the sound of shattering glass echoed in the room. Akechi glanced toward the sound and saw Sojiro’s jaw was on the floor. Akechi looked around to see that the other customers were glancing back and forth between Akechi and Sojiro, trying to figure out their story. Akechi walked over to the empty counter and took his usual seat and let Morgana out of the bag.

“My apologies. I can pay for that.” He offered as Sojiro collected himself and began cleaning up the shards of the broken glass, chuckling to himself. 

“I’m just shocked to see you.” Sojiro said as he discarded the shards of glass into a nearby trash can. A loud creak filled the cafe and Sojiro quickly turned around to see that Morgana was climbing up the stairs to the attic. Sojiro looked at Akechi and Morgana trying to figure out why they would even be together, until it hit him.

“...Something’s wrong with him.”  
Akechi, having no need to hide anything from Sojiro, nodded, and Sojiro sighed. Akechi noticed Sojiro looked defeated, almost like a bystander who could do nothing but hope someone else would help. 

“Futaba should be home soon.” He started as he walked around the counter. “You’re welcome to wait for her here. I’ll close up the shop for today.” Before Akechi could retort, Sojiro finished “I don’t think this is a conversation to have in an open shop.”

He was right. It wasn’t. Akechi couldn’t respond back, even if he wanted to. All he could muster was a simple “Thank you” before Sojiro asked

“You still take your coffee the same?”

“Yes.” 

Sojiro brought Akechi his coffee and a plate of curry. Before Akechi could ask, Sojiro told him it's on the house. Just like Tokyo, Leblanc’s menu and delicious food hasn’t changed at all. It’s still as delicious as he remembered, and it’s still the closest thing he’s ever had to a home cooked meal. He finished his plate and moved to a booth where he and Morgana waited for Futaba to get back from school. 

The jingle of the door rang and in the doorway was Futaba in her Shujin uniform, and looming over her was Yusuke. 

“Oiiii Sojiro! Why’s the store cl-Akechi?!”

Futaba and Yusuke stood in the doorway, mouths agape. Yusuke rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. Akechi rose from his seat and greeted them. 

“Hello, Sakura. Kitagawa.”

“How are you a-” Futaba began, and Akechi finished “Alive? I don’t particularly feel inclined to answer that.”

“Then, may I ask, what are you doing here?” Yusuke asked. 

Morgana hopped onto the table and chastised the duo.  
“Can you two just come in before you get to talking?” 

Futaba’s eyes glistened when she got a look at him and ran to squish him in her arms.  
“Mona!” 

Yusuke took a seat in the booth and smiled watching Futaba squeeze the life out of the poor cat. Sojiro brought out curry for the duo and a refill for Akechi’s coffee. 

“So to what do we owe this visit?” Yusuke asked.

Akechi gave the duo a rundown of the situation starting with Lavenza contacting him and ending with being kicked out of the palace. Morgana chimed in with his side of Akira’s behavior and to confirm Akechi’s account of Akira’s palace. 

“Waitwaitwait, slow down.” A panicked Futaba pleaded as she tried to cohesively piece the onslaught of information together.

“Akira has a palace?”

“Yes.”

“You only found out because Lavenza told you?”

“Yes.”

“You and Mona went into it already?”

“We were there before coming here.” Morgana confirmed.

“You both saw shadow Akira?” Yusuke inquired.

“...Yes.” They grimly answered. 

Without another word, Futaba stood up and pulled out her phone as Yusuke pulled out his and began fiddling with it. 

“What are you doing?” Morgana asked. A huge grin grew on Futaba’s face. 

“Silly Mona, we’re getting the Phantom Thieves back together.” 

Akechi took that as his cue to leave. He did what he came to do. He rose from his seat and told the trio to tell everyone else to meet at Leblanc tomorrow. Before he could walk out the door, Yusuke called out to him. 

“Wait, Akechi. We need you a part of it as well. The others may have questions we can’t necessarily answer.” 

Akechi couldn’t argue with that logic. He gave them his contact information. Upon his addition to the chat, he was bombarded with questions that he couldn’t answer in a few messages. He opted to let them ask all their questions before answering back in a voice memo. He followed it with a message to meet at Leblanc tomorrow after the high schools were out for the day. 

The next day, Akechi and Morgana stood outside of Leblanc waiting for the rest of the group to show up. Futaba, Yusuke, Ann, and Sumire showed up together. Sumire and Akechi were exchanging pleasantries when Ryuji showed up with Makoto and Haru. Before anyone got a word in, Haru blurted.

“We don’t trust you.”

Akechi glanced at Haru, noticing the ire in her eyes; her fists balled up and ready to take a swing at him. He expected this much hostility from her; however, this was no time to open that box and allow them to get side tracked. There were more pressing matters to attend to. 

“I don’t recall asking you to trust me, but given the circumstances, you might have to tolerate me for a bit...that is if you even feel like being a part of this.” Akechi answered.

Haru’s face contorted into an unsure expression, but she quickly steeled herself. “I’m here to help Akira, not you. Just know that I will not hesitate to eliminate you if you try anything.”

“Duly noted.” Akechi began “Are there any other issues before we begin?”

Everyone else shook their heads, and Akechi pulled up the Meta-Nav. 

Commencing navigation.

The ground began to shake as the buildings around the area began to fall all around them. Barren trees began to rise from the ground and replaced the buildings. The once vibrant, populated streets of Tokyo turned into a desolate marsh. Before they could take a step, jagged pillars rose from the ground below and enclosed the group in a newly formed cave. The only light came from the crystal clear river running through it. The group instantly changed into their phantom thief outfits. Akechi gave a sigh of relief. 

“So, this is his Underworld.” Makoto stated. 

“Yes. Stay away from the water. It will suck you in.” Akechi answered as he began walking in the direction of the flowing water. 

Morgana smirked. “Speaking from experience?” 

Akechi shrugged. “Perhaps.” 

The others began following Akechi, mostly in silence because they didn’t want to get caught off guard. However, they had been walking for a good hour at least, and there hasn’t been a shadow in sight which made the group a little antsy. They decided to take a small break from walking, but kept an eye out for shadows. 

“How long has he had this palace?” Ann asked

“Who knows.” Morgana answered. 

The group fell silent, each one of them looked guilty of something. They all looked away from each other, and sat in silence for a bit. Akechi couldn’t look at them in their states, having a pity party for themselves. He found it pathetic, but of course, he had always found the group to be a tad insufferable. However, his feelings were irrelevant here, and he had to at least act as civil as he could for now. 

“Wait...you guys.” Ann started “How’s his palace here?”

Everyone looked at each other, lost on how to answer the question, until Sumire answered. 

“It’s just a guess, but maybe he doesn’t have to be nearby?”

Everyone nodded and Haru chimed in.

“A lot’s happened here; it would be even more shocking if his palace wasn’t here.” 

The group fell silent once again, and Akechi decided that it was enough of a break. He grew tired of seeing them pitying themselves. Everyone agreed and noticed that Yusuke was missing. Ryuji called out to Yusuke. 

“Hey Fox, are you ready?.”

No answer.

“Fox?”

They turned around and found Yusuke staring at the river, and Morgana cried out

“FOX!”

“God fucking dammit.” Akechi marched over and grabbed Yusuke by his collar, pulling him away from the river. A soft voice echoed off the walls.

“Forget your pain.”

“Build yourself anew.”

“Live the life I was robbed of.”

The water rose, forming a pillar of sorts with a black figure in the middle of it. The group braced themselves for battle as the figure came out of the water and dispersed on the ground before flowing back into the river. The hooded figure conjured a rapier and ran at the group. 

Before the figure landed an attack, Crow had already launched himself at the figure, but they parried his attack, spurring a duel between the two. Just as the rest of the group was going to assist Crow, a group of shadows spawned, separating him from everyone else. He didn’t worry about them, he knew they were competent enough to take down a group of shadows. However, he didn’t know if he’d be able to take on this figure on his own. All he could do right now is try to dodge their attacks and make calculated attacks to throw the figure off and gain the advantage. 

The figure was unrelenting in their attacks, every attack aimed straight for his vital organs, aiming to give him a quick, painless death. The figure alternated between aiming for his neck, heart, and skull. Once Akechi figured out this pattern, it was easy to outmaneuver it. He swung his blade at its skull when it went for his heart, effectively knocking the figure to the floor and removing it’s hood. Before Akechi could take the final swing, the figure backflipped out of his range and removed the rest of its garb and revealed themselves to be 

“Sumire?!”

However, this Sumire had a bow in her hair and paired it with a black knee length dress with a white collar. She had white stockings and black mary janes to complete her look. Her eyes were obscured by a white blindfold, but blood crept out of where her eye sockets were and rolled down her face. 

Shadow Sumire rose her rapier, and the remaining shadows evaporated, allowing the thieves to rejoin Akechi. The group gaped at the sight before them, but Shadow Sumire paid it no mind and gave a calming smile to the group.

“Welcome to the Underworld.” 

“Now, come, let me erase your pain.” She extended her hand to the group, inviting them to her domain. A light shone from her palm as she brought it to her. 

“Come! Cenrdi-dis” 

She summoned her persona, one half Cendrillon and one half Vanadis, and shot a blast of light at the group. Sumire was unaffected by the attack and ran straight at her counterpart while everyone was recovering from the blow. 

“Get in positions!” Futaba ordered.

Just as everyone was getting ready to march in, Shadow Sumire drew a circle on the ground, trapping her and Violet in the circle in a duel. Ryuji banged on the wall, only to be thrown across the area. Ann and Yusuke ran after Ryuji, while everyone else waited for an opening. Akechi noticed that this Sumire was much more confident in her attacks than Violet ever was but he also knew that this was probably a product of Akira’s perception of her, so she shouldn’t put her guard down. One false move and her heart would be skewered on her blade.  
Violet was able to counter Sumire’s attack and had her pinned on the floor. Ella above Violet, ready to deliver the final blow. 

“You’re living a lie!” Sumire screamed at Violet.

Violet stopped in her tracks and stared at her counterpart in shock. 

The other Sumire took advantage of this pause, kicked Violet off of her and summoned Cendri-dis. Strings of bless attacks and physical attacks fell around the area, drowning out the screams of its caster, breaking the barrier between them and the rest of the thieves. 

“EVERYTHING IS EASIER WHEN YOU FORGET! LET ME PUT YOU OUT OF YOUR PAIN!”

Ryuji grabbed Mona and ran through the barrage of attacks before summoning William and hitting Cendri-dis. Mona took advantage of the chance and launched himself at Sumire and managed to knock her rapier out of her hands. The rest of the group followed suit and surrounded Sumire. 

“Get in position! We’re going to end it now!” Akechi barked.

Violet stopped and put herself in between Sumire and the thieves. 

“What are you doing?!” Akechi screamed.

Violet stared at her frightened counterpart, before staring back at Akechi. 

“It’s over. She’s done.” 

“What are you talking about?!” Makoto asked.

Violet knelt down and embraced the now crying Sumire. The group circled the now crying Sumire, not letting their guards down. 

“I can sense all of your pain. Everything's easier when you let yourself forget your pain.” Sumire choked through sobs. 

She reached out to Akechi. “I can erase your pain, your suffering, and you shall be reborn, living a happier life, a life where you can be who you want to be.” 

“No thank you.” 

“Very well.” Sumire whispered as black ooze began to come out from under Sumire. She pushed Violet away and let it swallow her back into the ground before they could react. A gold coin was left in her stead. Sumire’s voice echoed in the cave. 

“You have bested me in battle. For that, and that alone I, Kasumi, will no longer come to attack you and present you with this coin. You will need it for your travels.” 

“Kasumi?” Futaba repeated.

“We don’t have time to ponder that right now.” Akechi retorted. Sumire nodded.

“He’s right.” Sumire started as she picked up the coin. “She gave us this coin. Who knows what’s coming up next.”


	5. Miroh

Akechi spent most of his life shrouded in darkness. The Phantom Thieves have also spent some of their life in darkness. The difference between the two? Akechi said fuck it and ran into it because he had no other choice; the thieves had dipped a toe, some a foot, in it, but never really lived in it. This is probably why they were visibly uncomfortable with the darkness of their fearless leader’s palace. It could also be because they saw him as a beacon of light, a savior almost, but Akechi always saw the darkness in him. 

When he figured out he was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, he saw him as his own antagonist, an entity created to specifically ruin his plans at exacting his revenge. While they didn’t have an end goal, Akechi worried that if they caught wind of Shido, they would most definitely throw a wrench in his plans. He couldn’t have some handsome guy and his group of friends come in with good intentions and ruin his life’s work. He wouldn’t stand for it.

He came in contact with Akira under the pretense of trying to figure out the leader’s psychology. Fate played a cruel joke on him when he ended up enamoured by his wit, charm, and overall flair for the dramatic. He also noted that he had an underlying darkness and pain hidden in his eyes. He wanted to bring it out. He wanted to bring out his full potential; the same way Akira brought it out in him. Looking around at the cold stones around him made him think maybe he made a huge mistake in wanting him to unleash his dark side.

Currently, the thieves were following Akechi through the cave. He had no clue where he was going, but they had already ran into an enemy, so he figured they were going the right way. However, the thieves were uneasy about the situation.

“Hey…” Ann began “you guys think we’re trapped here?” 

“Doubt it.” Ryuji answered.

“Well there aren’t any safe rooms. We don’t even have an exit…” Makoto observed. 

“Mona?” Haru asked.

Mona let out a sigh and responded, “Everything looks the same, I couldn’t tell you where we are.”

They were right to be worried. They hadn’t come across a safe room, and there was no sign of an exit. They had to keep pushing until they found some sort of way safely back in and out without losing progress. They continued walking, and Akechi stumbled over a bump on the ground. He paid it no mind, and the rest of the group walked around it. 

Soon, the ground began to shake. The group fell to the ground and a cryptic voice echoed off the walls. 

“Intruders…”

The group steadied themselves and found themselves face to face with a floating black metal ball that glitched between ball and flying saucer. The black entity began to illuminate; revealing itself as 

“PROMETHEUS?!”

“NECRONOMICON?”

A group of shadows appeared, surrounding the group, and separating them from Necrometheus. 

A cryptic voice came from inside the being.

“Go away...”

The shadows lurched at the group, ready to rip them apart. A quick cast of Blazing Hell made quick work of the first group. A second group immediately spawned, and the group quickly found that casting elemental magic only got their attacks reflected. The group switched to an offensive attack and made quick work of them. The group was ready for a third group to spawn, but instead of another group, they were met with a single shadow encased in a steel cage. While the group was able to use both types of attacks, their attacks barely had an effect on the cage. 

“Oracle! Weaknesses?” Queen asked. 

“It doesn’t have any weaknesses in terms of physical or magic attacks, but you guys are gonna have to give me a few to figure something out.” 

“Leave…” A voice came from Necrometheus as the user cast a spell on the shadow.

“Guys! Brace yourselves! It’s charging up for a powerful attack!” 

The group took defensive measures and when the shadow unleashed its attack, everyone was barely able to stand. Violet cast Salvation to bring everyone back to full health. Unluckily for the shadow, the steel cage fell apart, leaving the shadow without protection. 

Oracle gave the signal to attack the shadow in its defenseless state. The group went in for the all out attack and made mincemeat of the shadow. It evaporated and a shrill cry pierced the ears of the group.

“NO! It wasn’t supposed to end like this!” 

Necrometheus dispersed, and Futaba appeared in its place. 

She had a pair of goggles on her head, and she donned a black suit jacket with an intricate golden floral design on the front. She had a white dress shirt underneath with a choker under her collar which was paired with black pleated shorts and black kneehigh socks with ankle boots to complete her look. 

As majestic as she might’ve looked, she was on her knees, crying.

“All I wanted was to be happy.” She began, choking through sobs. 

“He took her from me first…” she hiccuped “and then he gave me her...only to take her away.”

She wailed as she buried her face in her hands. The group looked at each other, hoping someone would have some clue as to what she was talking about. Oracle walked towards her counterpart and reached out to her, but when Futaba raised her head, she scurried backwards upon seeing the hand. Her eyes began to glow, and the water changed from blue to red. 

“GO AWAY! I WON’T LET YOU HURT ME EVER AGAIN!” She screamed as Necrometheus reappeared. Futaba went back inside her persona, and unleashed a strong gust of wind that tossed the group away from her, and everything went black.

Akechi opened his eyes and shot up. The group was still together, but they were surrounded by a group of shadows in white masks. They weren’t hostile, but that did nothing to ease his worries. Would they attack? Why are there docile shadows? Soft groans interrupted his thoughts and turned to see that the rest of the group was slowly regaining consciousness. While they were shocked to see the shadows, no one moved a muscle. If the shadows were going to kill them, they would’ve done so by now.

All of a sudden, the shadows jumped and scurried away from the group. Before they could run after them, Akechi noticed a cloaked figure approaching them. A chime of chains rang with each step the figure took. The group rose, ready to engage in battle. Before they could strike, the figure raised its arm. A soft, baritone voice came from the figure. 

“My role is not to be adversarial. If I must, I will, but only when I deem it necessary.”

“Define necessary.” Akechi demanded.

“You have my word that I will not hurt you unless I am driven to it.” 

“Who are you?” Haru asked.

The figure ignored the question and motioned the group to follow him. Akechi began to follow the figure, but turned around when he didn’t hear the group follow. They were apprehensive, but Morgana spoke up.

“Do you trust them?” 

“I don’t; I have my guard up.” He glanced back at the figure who was waiting for them. “I suggest you keep yours up as well.” He finished before walking towards the figure. The rest of the group quickly followed.

The figure led them deeper into the cave, and they noticed that there were many shadows in white masks. None of them tried to approach them, but they did let out soft cries. The more they walked, the more white masked shadows they saw and the silhouette of a building came into view.

“Here we are.” The figure announced. The group took a look around their surroundings. They were now surrounded by the river, and they noticed a dock and a long boat with a candle on each end of it. They looked behind them and saw that the white masked shadows were behind a white line on the ground.

“Where are we?” Akechi asked.

“Acheron.” The figure simply answered as they dropped their hood to reveal themselves as Yusuke. The group was shocked, but Yusuke paid their shock no mind as he continued with his explanation. 

“For a fee, I shall row you wherever you wish to be, but I shall only row where I am allowed to be. However, I cannot guarantee your safety, nor defend you from the others who dwell within.” He glanced at each member in the party. “Do we have an understanding?”

“What is your fee?” Sumire asked. 

The figure pointed at Sumire and the gold coin in her jacket began to glow. Yusuke smiled. “That gold coin of yours.”

Sumire glanced at Akechi in doubt, but he motioned her to do so. Before Sumire could go, Ryuji grabbed her arm. “Wait, we’re just going to trust him?!” 

“Do you have any better ideas, Skull?” Akechi snarkily asked. 

“...” 

“That’s what I thought.” 

Violet shot Skull an apologetic look as she loosened his grip on her. Panther and Fox each put a hand on his back in an attempt to console him. Skull kept his eyes on Crow, a seething anger coming from his eyes. Crow paid it no mind. All of this was just business. It’d be over soon.

They boarded the boat, and Yusuke took them along the river. A tense air filled the boat, but Crow paid it no mind. This wasn’t the time or place to get into a fight. They had better things to do.

While Yusuke was rowing the boat, he explained the layout of the palace. He said that this river leads to a much bigger river that circles a palace seven times. On top of that, there were off branch rivers where the other guardians dwelled. When asked for a map, Yusuke chuckled. “

“There is no need for a map; we all know where we can be. However, if you need a guide, the river is our main way to find ourselves back to our places.”

Well, that makes some sense. This palace is rather simplistic in design so far. Yusuke continued to row, and Crow noticed a bright light bouncing off the wall. It was faint, but it stood out in the darkness. Crow told Yusuke to take them in that direction. He complied. When they docked, Yusuke remained on the boat, and the group began to slowly approach the light. They entered the light and found themselves in the barren wasteland Akechi and Morgana first saw the day before.

“We’re at the entrance!” Morgana cried.

“WE MADE IT!” Futaba cried. 

While the rest of the group was celebrating they had a way in and out, Akechi noticed a blue door on the side of the exit and entered. 

No doubt about it. It was the Velvet Room. No other room he’s ever been in was this blue. He walked deeper in and saw Lavenza standing on the other side of the bars. 

“Ah, Harbinger! Welcome.” She curtsied.

He nodded. “Lavenza.”

“I’m glad to see you were able to come through the door.” 

“Is this because I’m not your official guest?” 

Lavenza confirmed his deduction and explained that there are doors only Akechi could now see due to his temporary connection as a Velvet Room Guest. His powers are limited in the sense that he cannot fuse personas, for this Velvet Room was not created to reflect his heart and bonds. However, he can come in to meet with Lavenza to ask questions or to heal. While all of this was good to know, he did have one pressing matter to address. 

“How much time do we have before it’s too late?”

Lavenza’s grip on her grimoire tightened. 

“Judging by the current state of the palace, you have two weeks.”

Two weeks isn’t a lot of time, but it’s a manageable time period. They just couldn’t afford to fall behind. He thanked Lavenza for her information before returning back to the others.

When he came to, Morgana was at his side, and the rest of the thieves were staring at him, wondering what was going on. He frowned.

“What?”

“You zoned out.” Ann stated.

“I was talking to Lavenza.” He began “She said we have two weeks.”


	6. Where the Seas Sleeps

If it was up to Akechi, they would’ve scaled the entire palace today, but one look at the tired group was enough to tell him that any further progress would be unproductive. If Akira was leading the charge, Akechi was sure he would’ve kept up morale to scale the entire palace, but they are without Akira and keeping up morale wasn’t something Akechi was interested in. He’d much rather take it slow than fake caring about the rest of the group. He’d look stupid trying to do so, and they would see right through his facade in a second. 

Upon returning back to the real world, the thieves finally allowed their shock to overcome them. Futaba fell to her knees and began to cry. The group gathered around her to console her, and knowing that there was nothing he could do, Akechi told them to settle their affairs and be ready for tomorrow before taking his leave. This prompted an angry response from Ryuji, but he paid it no mind and continued on his way. He knew that he couldn’t do anything to better the situation, so he took his leave to deal with his own thoughts. 

Seeing the state of Akira’s palace did have an effect on him, but he was more surprised that it’s been pretty straight forward so far. Akira was someone of many faces; elusive to even those close to him, so why has his palace been so straight forward so far? On top of that, why was “Yusuke” helping them and not battling them like “Futaba” and “Kasumi”? Well, there was no use in pondering these questions. All he could do now was get some rest and hope that tomorrow would shed some light on his questions. 

When he arrived at LeBlanc the next day, Futaba, Yusuke, and Morgana were already there waiting for everyone. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that Futaba’s eyes were puffed up; he acted as if he didn’t notice and drank the coffee Sojiro set on the table. Soon after, everyone else showed up, and they re-entered the palace.

Upon entering, the party saw Yusuke from a distance, speaking to a hooded black figure. Akechi motioned the rest of the group to stay put as he crawled over to eavesdrop. 

“Just keep an eye out for him. I don’t want a repeat from last time.”

“Understood.” Yusuke responded. 

The figure disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Yusuke turned around to face Crow.

“Welcome. Ready to board?” 

The group boarded the long boat, and Yusuke began to take them along the river. The ride was silent for the most part. While the group talked amongst themselves, Crow was taking note of the cave’s layout. For the most part, it was pretty flat, but noticed that the inner part of the river cascaded into a hole in the center of the cave. Before he could ask about the hole, Yusuke spoke.

“Brace yourselves. We’re descending.” 

They had very little time to stabilize themselves as the velocity of the boat increased and they flew down the river. Mixed cheers, screams, and cries echoed throughout the cave’s walls. When they hit the straight waterway, they had been pushed forward by velocity alone that they ended up going into an offshoot of the river. 

The laughter of the group cut off when they realized they went into the offshoot. Crow had his hand on his sword, unsure of what was coming. Yusuke continued guiding the boat as if this was normal. It was. In the distance, a docking station appeared. As they came closer, a white marble Roman temple came into view. The courtyard was a garden filled with scentimental roses.

Yusuke docked the boat and gestured the group to the temple.

“Through those gates is the true entrance to the Underworld.” He looked back at them. “Do not go in unprepared.” 

The group cautiously entered the temple. Their weapons were drawn, ready to strike at the first unknown movement. The inside of the temple was unassuming. The pillars alternated between white marble and black obsidian; the floor was made of white stone. The room was illuminated by racks of candles, but in the center of the room was an altar with one lit candle.

The group walked around, inspecting the room, but found nothing. Panther, wanting to take a break, leaned on the altar. A door opened, leading to an abyss. The group went into the darkness, and the door shut behind them. 

A low growl filled the room.

“Human…”

“W-w-w-what was that?” Queen trembled. 

“Stay together!” Oracle called out.

Six giant glowing orbs lit up in the darkness, and the sound of footsteps filled the room. With each step, the noise grew louder and louder, and the group’s anxiety grew more and more. 

“Human…” 

“HIT LEFT!” Oracle ordered. 

The sound of weapons hitting the creature filled the room, and the thud of the creature hitting the floor shook the room. A piercing scream erupted from the creature, and light filled the room, blinding everyone. When their eyes adjusted to the light, they were met with a giant three headed Morgana, ready to pounce. Upon further inspection, each of Morgana’s heads had distinct features. The head on the left had a green sigil on its forehead; the center head had a yellow sigil; and the right one had a pink sigil. 

Skull let out a laugh. “Woah! I thought you with one head was bad!”

“SKULL!” Mona cried.

Giggles from the rest of the group came from behind them, but were interrupted by Morgana’s bellow.

“HUMAN!!”

Morgana’s growl echoed off the walls, causing large pieces of the roof to come down, trapping them in a circle with the three headed beast. 

Morgana let out a roar, and the green sigil lit up. A whirlwind formed and began circling the arena.

“How can we counter that?!” Fox asked.

“DUNNO. JUST FOCUS ON NOT GETTING SUCKED IN!” Oracle ordered. 

The yellow and pink sigils on the other heads lit up. The center head transformed into a cannon and the right head’s eyes began to glow pink.

“HEY, IT JUST TRANS-” Panther cried out.

“KEEP RUNNING!” Akechi barked.

The cannon shot weapon projectiles into the air, and a pink beam shot at the weapons as they entered the whirlwind. Weapons began to shoot out of the whirlwind in all directions. Crow managed to dodge them, but it was a different story for Queen, Fox, and Violet. 

Panther ran over to check on Queen, but before she could do anything, Queen kicked Panther across the area. 

“QUEEN! WHAT THE SHIT?!” Skull hollered.

“Guys...something’s wrong.” Noir pointed at the trio. 

Queen’s eyes were now glowing pink; Fox and Violet rose, and their eyes were also glowing pink. The trio grouped up and launched themselves at the rest of the group. Noir, Mona, and Crow took them on, while Skull ran to check on Panther. Noir took on Fox, Mona took on Violet, and Crow took on Queen. 

Queen was merciless in her attacks, punching and kicking at Crow. Crow kept his guard up, using his sword as a shield, looking for an opening. From behind Queen, Crow noticed that Morgana’s sigils weren’t glowing anymore, and he was lying on the ground. The whirlwind was gone, and the center head reverted back to normal. 

However, he couldn’t get to him with Queen in his way. He realized he wasn’t going to get anywhere on the defense, so he summoned Hereward and knocked her down with Rebellion Blade. The glow in her eyes disappeared, but the pink on Morgana’s right head began to return.

Crow called out, “ORACLE!” 

“GOT IT!” She responded.

Another whirlwind stirred up, and once again, Morgana’s head transformed. The charmed weapons were loaded into the whirlwind. The group scattered as the weapons began flying out of the whirlwind. Crow, Queen, and Fox were hit by the weapons this time, leaving Violet and Noir to defend against them while Skull, Panther, and Mona scurried to take on Morgana.

They climbed on Morgana’s back and ran up his spine. Morgana began to shake, trying to throw them off of his back, but the trio held on for dear life. When he stopped, the trio climbed up his back until they managed to reach the heads. 

“You need to take out the sigils at the exact same time!” Oracle cried out. 

The trio summoned their personas, and Futaba gave the order. 

“NOW!”

The sigils were shattered, and Morgana began to glow. A giant orb appeared over his body. Crow, Queen, and Fox went back to normal, and everyone stared at the orb. 

“WE NEED TO TAKE THAT ORB OUT!” Crow barked. 

The group summoned their personas and launched a simultaneous attack, but before they could attack, a single shot echoed off the walls and pierced the orb, shattering it. Morgana disappeared with an anguished cry, and the group was immediately transported outside the temple. 

The group groaned as they tried to get their bearings. Crow heard footsteps coming near the group. Crow sat up to see Yusuke looking down on him.

“I see you were victorious. Ready for the next stop?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I took a bit of time off to re-center myself on this story, but I'm back!


	7. Voracity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Um, I just wanted ya'll to know that this chapter does contain descriptions of: 
> 
> Body mutilation, gun violence, and blood

The group was relieved when they boarded the boat, but an uneasy feeling loomed over the group. What saved them back there? It could’ve been a foe, but it didn’t attack them, so maybe it was an ally? A lot of things didn’t add up here, and there isn’t much to go off on at this point. All he knew was that they’d run into the source at some point, but maybe he could try asking Yusuke about it.

“What can you tell us about the others in this domain?” 

“Nothing that you do not already know.” Yusuke answered. 

Well, that was little help. Crow figured as much, but he couldn’t help but be annoyed with the lack of information he could get out of Yusuke. Then again, Akira always kept important things to himself. It’s no surprise he’s keeping the guardians in the dark. 

Yusuke continued rowing, and everyone else was enjoying the little breather. Crow noticed that Fox had a perplexed look on his face. Fox’s eyes widened. Ah. He realized he’s been caught. Fox quickly rose from his seat, rattling the boat and drawing everyone’s attention. Yusuke, on the other hand, kept rowing as if nothing was going on. 

“Why have you not attacked us like everyone else has?” Fox asked.

Yusuke chuckled softly before answering, “I hold no resentment towards my lord.”

Fox’s head cocked to the side. “What exactly do you mean?” 

“Mostly everyone here holds some resentment towards my lord, for what I cannot say, but we all do.” He looked over his shoulder before continuing. “Some more than others.” 

“And you?” Fox inquired, almost desperately. 

Yusuke turned around, letting the boat steer itself. “He denied me a life free from the abuse of my father” he paused, bringing his hand over his heart. “...but I cannot bring myself to hate him.”

“Why?” Noir asked.

Fox interjected. “We changed his heart.”

Yusuke nodded. “He’s open to rehabilitating the relationship.” Yusuke paused and pointed at Fox “The question is: do you? ” 

Fox sat down, chuckling to himself. The group stared at him, hoping he’d divulge some information. Fox kept his revelation to himself, but Crow put the pieces together: things were going to get more interesting from here, that’s for sure. 

Yusuke kept rowing, and a silhouette of a huge marble tower came into view. As they got closer to it, Crow noted that the tower had black wings at the top. However, not much else stood out about it. Yusuke docked, and the group piled out. 

Crow walked towards the tower, ready to get this next battle over with. The faster they can get to Akira, the better. He doesn’t have time to dawdle. The group followed closely behind him as they entered the tower. 

The entrance was rather simple. It was held up by marble pillars; the floors were checkered black and white; however, there were two flights of stairs, one leading up and one leading down. The group took a few steps before the ground beneath them opened, throwing them onto a sandy floor. The group looked up to find themselves in an empty coliseum. 

They were barely able to find their footing when gusts of wind, followed by lighting circled them. The group jumped to attack, but nothing came at them. They moved cautiously, ready to jump at any little sound. A flash of lighting hit the spectator seats, and the once empty seats were filled with cheering shadows. 

Another flash of lighting hit the ground, revealing Ryuji, clad in Greek armor, but his left leg was covered in metal. He spun around and let out a holler that was responded with a roar of cheers from the crowd of shadows. He pointed at the group, and the crowd began stomping their feet, building up suspense. Ryuji didn’t give the group any time to get their bearings for he launched himself at the group. They braced for an impact that never came, but were met with a blistering wind that knocked them down again. They tried getting up, but were paralyzed. 

Ryuji came at them with a baton and swung them into the wall behind them. Cheers filled the arena once again, as Ryuji showboated his strength and speed. The group staggered to their feet, trying to find their bearings. Ryuji noticed them, and paid them no mind. He continued basking in the cheers from the crowd. The sight was deplorable. It fueled Akechi with anger to not only be knocked down, but mocked by an enemy that looked like Skull.

Violet healed the group, and they came up with a quick strategy as Ryuji continued to bask in his glory. The group split in three groups: Noir, Crow, and Panther; Skull, Violet, and Queen; Fox and Mona in hopes to distract him with one group, while the others attacked. 

Each of their attacks were reflected back at the group, knocking them down, and leaving Oracle defenseless. 

Shit.

“You wanna see some real speed?!” Oracle hollered, bringing Ryuji’s attention towards her. 

Oracle was nestled inside the confines of Al Azif and out of Ryuji’s reach. This angered him. He ran around the arena a couple of times, before launching himself at the little spaceship. Futaba went higher into the sky, and Ryuji fell on his metal leg, letting out a guttural scream.

That's it. The group realized it was well, and they began aiming their attacks at the metal leg. The metal leg came off, revealing Ryuji's actual leg, but it didn't do anything to halt his attacks. If anything, he began fighting with a more defensive strategy as he tried to collect the pieces of his scattered brace. 

Crow wasn't going to let that happen. Oracle gave the signal for an all out attack. The group took this shot and knocked Ryuji down for the count, but he didn't disappear like the others. Fearing the worst, the group retreated, but Crow stayed, a morbid idea coming to his head. 

“CROW! GET BACK!” Panther ordered. 

“TURN AROUND!” He ordered. The group did as they were told. He then lifted his blade and impaled it in Ryuji’s left leg. His anguished cries echoed in the arena.

“NOT HERE!” Ryuji screamed, as he tried to shake off Crow, who was holding on for dear life.

He glanced at the group. They all turned back to watch him, each of them had varying looks of shock and horror on their faces. Imbeciles. They can’t follow a simple order. 

“NOT AGAIN” Ryuji screamed as Crow dug his blade further into the leg. Ryuji’s cries got louder and louder, choked tears coming out, begging for his life. 

“NO NO NO NO NO NONONONONONONO.”

Crow, unfazed, dug deeper through his femur, effectively breaking it, once again. 

“NOOOOOOOO!” Ryuji cried before erupting a black ooze and returning to the ground. Crow lifted his mask and quizzically looked at the group who stared at him in horror.

“What?” He snapped as he tried to get his blade out of the ground. "I told you to loo-” 

A swift punch to the face knocked Crow down.

“SKULL!” 

The group cried out as Skull jumped on top of Crow and pummeled him into the ground, tears ran down his face onto Crow’s. The taste of iron filled his mouth, and he decided that was enough. Crow managed to get a hold of Skull’s wrists after overcoming his initial shock, rendering his fists useless. Crow rose from the ground, his grip on Skull’s wrists tightening as he knocked Skull off his balance, reversing their positions. Crow spat out blood before taking advantage of the new position to put his hands on his neck. Skull pulled on Crow’s hair, bringing his face down a few inches before he poked his eyes. Crow’s grasp on him waned, and Skull took this time to get some distance between the two.

“I’M TIRED OF YOUR SHIT, CROW!” Skull roared.“WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE?! ALL YOU DO IS BRING PAIN, AND YOU DON’T GIVE A SHIT!”

Crow rose to his feet, dusting himself off. “You know damn well why we’re all here, and that I don’t give a single fuck for any of you.” He spat. 

He walked over to his impaled blade and took it out, pointing it at Skull.

“Now, if you’re done with your tantrum, we have a heart to steal.”

Skull grew quiet, and Crow lowered his blade. He didn’t have time to waste on this. They had to keep moving. Crow turned towards the group, who were agape. Crow walked past them, ready to move on to the next area.

“AKIRA DOESN’T NEED YOU!” Skull hollered. 

Crow froze, his bubbling annoyance rising to a boiling, overflowing anger. In an instant, he had dropped his blade, pulled out his gun, and tackled Skull down, placed the gun at his temple, ready to fire, and his other hand squished his face. Skull’s arms struggled to get Crow off of him, but he didn’t budge.

“But he needs you? You, the friends who said you were going to be there for him? The friends who left him alone and let THIS happen?!” He spat.

“WHERE WERE YOU THEN?!” Skull retorted, his voice coming out muffled due to Crow’s grip on his face.

Crow lowered the barrel of the gun to his neck, and dug it into his skin. Skull winced in pain, and a sick smile grew on Crow’s face. 

“Does it matter? You just said he didn’t need me; he had you.” He cooly responded, murderous intent still leaking into his voice. Fear began leaking into Skull’s eyes, realizing the animal he let out of it’s cage now that his anger began to wane. 

Skull began “He could’ve reached ou-”

“and break your perception of Mr. Perfect? No, he would’ve never done that.” Crow finished.

Tired of this dramatic outburst, Crow rose to his feet, leaving Skull on the ground to collect himself. He once again walked past the group, but this time, he paused and looked at everyone. If they were uneasy around him before, now they were downright mortified of what he was truly capable of. 

“This applies to all of you.” He paused, making sure he had their attention. “I never told you to come. You decided to come, and you can all decide to leave.” He reminded them as he walked out of the arena.


	8. Better Off Dead

Upon exiting the arena, exhaustion hit the entire group, and they called it a day. When they returned, the thieves shifted around uncomfortably glancing between Akechi who was checking his phone and Ryuji who was looking away from everyone, hoping they wouldn’t have to clean up someone’s brain off of the pavement. Akechi put his phone away and coldly stared at the group.

“I’m not going to repeat myself” was all Akechi said before walking away from them.

He managed to get to the train station entrance when he felt someone call out after him. Ryuji stopped in front of him, catching his breath.

“Hey, Akechi…” he panted. 

Akechi cocked an eyebrow at the sight. Ryuji straightened himself out before nervously fidgeting. 

“I just...uh-” He began. 

Akechi cut him off. “Save it.”

“What?!” Ryuji angrily responded. 

“I don’t want your apology.” Akechi flatly stated. 

“Too bad! You’re getting it.” Ryuji finished.

“Whatever.” Akechi rolled his eyes before walking away from Ryuji, an uneasy feeling began settling in his stomach. 

Akechi decided to stop by Kichijoji on his way to catch a show at Jazz Jin and wind down. He took a seat, ordered, and watched the performance. However, he couldn’t enjoy the show; the uneasy feeling in his stomach began to spread. His breathing became constricted by an invisible grip, and his limbs began to shake. Normally, when he felt like this Jazz Jin let him put his worries away, but not tonight. He had to get out. He had to leave. He downed the rest of his drink and quietly walked out in a hurry, not wanting to make a scene. The cold air hit his face, bringing him back to his senses a bit. He was able to control his breathing for the most part, and he decided to call it a night.

The next day, he went along with his business until it was time to meet at Leblanc. He was the first person to arrive and was expecting to be the only person there today given yesterday’s events. A few minutes later, the group trickled in. Akechi stared at them in disbelief.

“We know you don’t think much of us, but we help our own.” Futaba snarkily remarked as she waved her finger at Akechi. 

“Yeah, just because we have to work with you doesn’t mean that we’re gonna just let our friend suffer like this.” Haru added.

“Are we ready to go?” Makoto asked as she held up her phone.

Upon entering, Yusuke was waiting for them, ready to lead them into the depths of the Underworld. The group boarded the boat and embarked into the abyss. The light from the river below them was the only source of light in the cave until they came upon a giant marble courthouse that was illuminated by torches just outside it. 

They walked into the courthouse, noticing that a plethora of weapons were on display. Axes, brass knuckles, whips, guns, swords, rapiers, and in the middle of the room was a single dagger. Right behind it was a statue of justice, both eyes dripping blood from under her blindfold onto the floor. Crow reached out to touch the blood that spilled on the floor, and it burned through his gloves. 

Just then, a slab of marble shifted to the right, the passageway was illuminated by candlelight. The group entered and walked through the tight hall in a single file line. The stench of rot filled their nostrils, but all the group could do was hope that there was an exit in sight.

“Mona, can’t you use Diego to give us some fresh air?” Panther asked. 

“And spread this rotting smell more toward us? No way!” Mona cried.

The group groaned as they tried to find the strength to keep going forward. As they ventured farther and farther, they began to feel more and more tired. A thud snapped the group out of it.

“Oracle!” 

Crow turned around to see that Oracle had fainted. Queen picked up Oracle, placed her on Fox's back, and they tried to continue; however, everyone’s vision was fading in and out. Their legs were heavy, knees weak, ready to give out at any second. They tried to continue walking, but the fatigue took over, and they all fell unconscious.

When they came to, they found themselves bolted to a wall. Just then, the clack of heels hitting marble echoed, coming closer and closer. The group struggled to get out, and even tried summoning their personas, but to no avail.

“I have no clue why you’re struggling. You’re under my jurisdiction.” A condescending voice sneered. Right before the group was Makoto, in a suit jacket, slacks, and a tucked in white dress shirt.

“You have some gall coming here and making a ruckus. It’s interrupting my work.” She lamented.

The group began to struggle some more, already knowing that there was a fight coming. Makoto sighed, snapped her fingers, and the room plummeted into the darkness below them. The screams from the group echoed in the shaft. The room suddenly stopped, and Makoto spoke.

“I’m not going to fight. I have no reason to do so; however...” With a flick of her wrist, the group was set free, and the wall behind her began to rise. In the darkness, red eyes glowed in the darkness as a small smirk on Makoto’s face grew “...you do need to worry about her.” She finished as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Before anyone could call out to Makoto, a sweet voice echoed from within the darkness, laced with bloodlust.

“Come, let me watch your bodies squirm. Let me hear your screams. Let me watch the life from your eyes disappear…”

Fire began to light up the darkness to reveal an arena. From a distance, they saw a figure in a black jumpsuit with a black veil coming out of a cage, piercing red eyes glowing through the fabric. The figure summoned an axe with a trident on the opposite end before lifting their veil. 

“...the same way I watched father’s.” Haru finished, with a twisted smile crossing her lips. 

The group summoned their personas and launched an attack at Haru, but she deflected it with her axe before sending it back to them. They managed to dodge it, but it destroyed the room they were previously in. 

Haru then summoned Astarte. She gave them no time to prepare for an attack as Astarte’s skull cracked open, revealing Milady’s guns, and launched a barrage of bullets towards the group. 

“Skull and Mona are out!” Oracle cried. “Someone heal them!” 

“Easier. said. than. DONE!” Panther replied as she ran from Haru’s bullet barrage.

The remaining group continued launching attacks, but Haru managed to dodge them all. Frustrated, Violet and Panther went in for a combination attack, but Haru swung her axe at them, sending them flying into the walls behind them, rendering them unconscious. 

Haru stood before the four remaining members, scanning each one until she paused. Her gaze locked onto Crow, the red glow from her eyes began to spread all over her body. Crow braced himself as Haru launched herself at him, blasting the other three away. 

“MURDERER!” She roared as she swung her axe repeatedly as Crow dodged any lethal attacks on his body and countered with his own swings of his blade, trying to get some distance so he could safely summon Hereward. While he dodged all of the lethal attacks, Crow had many lacerations all over his body, blood slowly staining his clothes and dripping on the ground. Haru’s smile widened and her eyes dilated upon the sight of the bloodied Crow. 

Queen, Fox, and Noir charged up for an attack and unleashed it on Haru, hitting her and saving Akechi in the process. 

“You need to retreat. Now, while she’s down.” Queen ordered. 

“No. I’ll be a distraction. You take her down.” Crow countered. 

Haru’s scream cut their mini strategy plan short, and Crow continued taking Haru’s hits in hopes that the trio could take her out. However, the blood loss was starting to get to Crow. He didn’t have time to heal his wounds, and he was quickly losing blood. Haru took notice of his state, managed to take one clean swing at him, and knocked him out. Haru then launched her weapon, trident first, trapping Crow against the wall, saving him for later. 

“CROW!” the trio cried.

Haru summoned Lady Astarte and blasted Queen with Psiodyne. 

“QUEEN!” the duo cried. 

Fox and Noir ran up to Haru and swung at her with their weapons. She dodged Noir’s attack, and engaged in a duel with Fox. Fox was efficient with his blade, but Haru managed to get in a few punches and kicks while dodging Noir’s ranged attacks. Haru took advantage of their urgency and dodged one of Noir’s attacks, letting it hit Fox and blowing him away. 

Haru ran up behind Noir, wrapped her arms around her shoulders, pulling her towards her. Noir struggled to free herself, but Haru only gripped tighter. 

“Why are you aligning yourself with them?” Haru sweetly whispered as she turned them to face Crow’s limp body. 

“Look, that imposter removed his princely outfit to don the outfit of father’s murderer.” She paused. “Do you not think it’s a sick joke?” She continued as she raised her hand to Noir’s throat, grasping it lightly.

“Aren’t you angry? Don’t you want to bash his skull in and watch him suffer?” She spat as her grip on her throat tightened. “The same way we’ve suffered?”

Haru’s voice began to become distorted, the sweet voice became deeper and instilled fear in Noir.

“No one would blame you.” Haru continued. 

Noir turned her head to face Haru, who was now crying blood with a wicked smile across her face. 

“Blood crimes must be repaid in blood.” She stated. 

“Blood…” Noir repeated.

“That’s it…” Haru encouraged her.

Noir whimpered. “...father…”

Haru let go of Noir’s neck, took her by the hand, and walked her over to Crow’s limp body, who was struggling to remain conscious. 

“We could avenge him. It’d be simple.” Haru began as she walked behind Noir and wrapped her hands on top of Noir’s.

“All we’d have to do is end his life.” She cooed as they lifted the axe and went for the kill, but the attack stopped midway.

“NO!” Noir separated herself from her counterpart, dropping the axe in the process. She summoned Lucy and launched an attack.

“FOOL!” Haru screeched as she dodged Lucy’s attack and closed the distance between the two. Haru swung at Noir with the dropped axe. A flash of light intercepted the attack, and the blast from the attack propelled the girls in opposite directions. 

When the light cleared, a figure clad in a white suit with gold accents, and a red cape billowing off a shoulder with a crossbow in hand stood in front of Noir. Haru’s face twisted into rabid rage. 

“HOW’D YOU ESCAPE MY HOLD?!”

“Escape? I’ve just arrived.” He simply stated as he shot arrows through Haru’s eyes. 

While Haru screamed in anguish, the white figure turned towards Noir with a soft, genuine smile gracing his lips. Her eyes widened as her shaky voice questioned the sight before her.

“...Akechi?”

“Yes?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was writing this last week, and I just couldn't get the image of Akechi out of my head. So, here it is in art form lol.
> 
> I've gotten so many comments for the last chapter! You guys really made my day with all your kind words! It's only gonna get more grim from here, so I hope you guys are just as excited as I am to finally get to A N G S T!!


	9. Can You Feel My Heart?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hi! This is a warning for graphic violence, blood, and brief references to sex in this chapter!

This was weird. The aura radiating off of this Akechi unsettled Noir. It was one thing seeing the princely persona reappear, but this Akechi was different from the one she knew. Crow was a no nonsense, malicious, piece of shit; however, this Akechi had a warmth that made you believe everything was going to be okay.

Akechi knelt down and outstretched his hand towards her. She glanced behind him to see her counterpart struggling to remove the arrows from her eye sockets. Noir hesitantly took his hand and rose to her feet. Haru removed the arrows from her eyes and lurched towards Akechi.

“Go” was all Akechi said as he ran towards Haru, leaving Noir to go heal the rest of the party while Akechi distracted her counterpart. Akechi dodged her attacks with grace. With each dodge, she grew more and more frustrated with his presence. She put distance between the two and summoned Lady Astarte once again and unleashed a barrage of bullets at Akechi. Akechi picked up Crow’s blade and ran past the bullets, deflecting them with the blade. 

Haru’s twisted laughter echoed in the arena as bullets hailed, grazing Noir and the others where they lay. As Akechi started to close the distance between the two, Haru focused her attacks on him. However, as if he anticipated it, he stuck his crossbow in the barrel of her biggest canon, causing it to implode on itself. 

A sea of thick black smoke encompassed the arena. The sounds of an ongoing clash echoed with a cacophony of grunts and screams accompanied by the sounds of metal clashing against each other. Then everything went silent, and the smoke cleared. Noir and Violet sat together as they looked on in horror at the sight. 

Akechi stood in the center of the smoke, Crow’s blade in hand, and Haru’s head a couple of feet away from her body. 

“Long live the Queen.” He muttered as Haru dissolved into the ground, before turning his attention to Noir and Violet.

“Are you alright?”

Before they could answer, a distressed voice interrupted them. 

“THERE YOU ARE!”

A puff of black smoke appeared before them. When the smoke ebbed away, Ann stood in the middle of it, donning a beautiful black and red gown with a rose adorned crown, chastising Akechi. 

“You really did it this time!”

“I di-”

“I don’t care! You have to leave! He’s coming!”

“Already? I have yet to rea-.”

“JUST LEAVE!” A burst of flames erupted from under Ann’s feet.

“Fine.” He sighed “...but what about them?” Akechi motioned to the bodies strewn all over the arena. 

Ann scanned the arena, sighed in frustration, and set her gaze on Noir and Violet. Her face softened and gave them a warm smile before turning back to Akechi.

“I’ll get them out of he-” A loud rumbling shook the area, and Ann clicked her tongue. “Too late now.” 

Ann conjured a pair of whips, collected the group, and put them back into the destroyed elevator shaft before enclosing them in a barrier. Violet took advantage of the situation and healed the others. Upon regaining his strength, Crow glued his face to the barrier to see what was happening, and soon enough, the entire group was pressed against the barrier. 

The rumbling in the arena grew stronger and stronger with each second that passed until blue flames materialized in front of Akechi. The only thing they could do was look on in horror at the sight before them.

In the fire, a slender, horned silhouette appeared in the middle of it. Everyone in the room knew who was coming, but it was one thing to know and another to see it. A tense air filled the arena as the group watched Akechi nonchalantly rustled with his sleeves, as if he was in line to use the bathroom.

Crow zeroed in on his counterpart’s flippant attitude. What is that moron doing?! He knows Akira’s coming to destroy him, and he just STANDS THERE FIDDLING WITH HIS JACKET?!   
Did Akira think of him as a nonchalant charlatan? No, he had no time to focus on this projection of himself. It’s most likely a warped perception of him. It has to be, but it didn’t do much to ebb the headache that was coming just watching his counterpart’s overly cheeky behavior.. 

The fires ebbed, and there stood Akira. This Akira had ram horns which would’ve made you think he was more of a demon than death, but his eyes were sunken in, devoid of that silent, sparkling charm that Akira was known for. The death in his eyes matched the lack of color in his skin, but at least his flair for the dramatic was still intact. He had a long black coat, heeled boots, and a black suit embellished with silver embroidery on the jacket. One side of his hair was pulled back. He was still Akira on some level, but not his.

Crow's stomach twisted in a tighter knot. He wanted to be out there, fighting him, bringing him back to his senses, but without his treasure, it would be for nothing. All he could do now was watch with the rest of the group. 

Akechi sighed. “You should really stop with the theatrics. We all know it’s you; there’s no need to try to instill fear here.” 

Akira shrugged, and he pulled out a dagger as he walked towards Akechi. 

“How many times are we going to do this?” Akira lamented. “You know the outcome already.”

“As many times as it takes to get through that stubborn skull of yours.” Akechi countered.

Akira sighed. “Such a masochist.” 

Akechi smirked, and Akira threw the dagger at him. Akechi caught it with ease, and the smirk grew a bit as he twirled the dagger around his finger. 

“So that’s your mood.” 

With that, Akechi shot his crossbow in Akira’s direction. Akira dodged it with ease, unimpressed with the prince’s first move. Akechi snickered as he tossed his crossbow to the side and pointed the dagger at Akira. The two ran towards each other, ready to strike. The daggers clashed, and the two tried to get the other to bend by pushing into each other. 

Akira took a step back, knocking Akechi off his balance, and Akira took advantage of this to lurch towards him to land a blow. Akechi grabbed Akira’s wrist and flipped him on the ground. He got on top of him to take the dagger away from him, but Akira swung the dagger back at him in an attempt to impale it in him.

“JUST LET ME HELP YOU!” Akechi pleaded as he struggled to dodge Akira’s attacks. His hands were now full of lacerations from the grazings of Akira’s dagger. Akira; however, was unsatisfied with the events, and he began to be more forceful in his swings. Akechi jumped off of Akira and ran towards his discarded dagger, but Akira was hot on his tail, bloodlust in his eyes. 

Akira tackled Akechi down. His foot landed on Akechi’s back, and his free hand grabbed a clump of Akechi’s hair, exposing his neck for Akira’s dagger. Akechi struggled under his hold, trying to wiggle free, but Akira used his weight to keep him still. 

“I DON’T NEED YOUR SAVING!” Akira bellowed as he placed his dagger at Akechi’s throat, right before the elevator shaft. 

The group looked on in horror. No one ever thought Akira would be capable of holding such hatred in his heart. The way Akira looked sent a shiver down Crow’s spine. There was no mistaking it: Akira was disgusted by Akechi. That glassy stare was something he was so used to seeing in his life: it was the stare people gave his mother for being a sex worker; it was the face people gave him as he bounced around orphanages for not being good enough; it was the face Shido constantly had on. It was a face he’d gladly put a bullet in. The more he focused on that stare, the more labored his breaths became. The more labored his breaths became, the stronger the urge to break this barrier and shoot Akira point blank became. 

“I’ll take you down as many times as it takes to end your pathetic attempts.” Akira growled as he pressed the dagger into Akechi’s neck. A little stream of blood trickled out from his neck, staining the ground beneath them. 

A smirk crossed Akechi’s face. “...Seems like we’ll be bound forever then.”

Akira frowned at the comment, and he sliced Akechi’s throat without another word. With that, Akechi evaporated, leaving Akira kneeling over the small pool of blood beneath him. 

He dusted himself off before glancing over at an unfazed Ann and bowing his head. Ann returned the gesture as Akira disappeared into the blue flames. She paused for a few seconds, and once she was sure he was gone, Ann lifted the barrier on the group only for them to fall on top of each other. Ann hurried over to them and summoned Hecate, but she had Carmen’s tuxedoed hearts attached to chains instead of dogs.

“I’ll answer your questions in a bit. I just need to get you somewhere safe.” 

Before they could protest, a ring of fire surrounded the group. Next thing they knew, they were in a garden of white flowers. 

“Okay. We should be safe here.” Ann chirped. 

“Why are you helping us?” Oracle asked. 

Ann took a seat on a nearby bench, a solemn expression grew on her face. She took a deep breath before answering. 

“We want to be saved. Please, steal his treasure.”

“...we’re working on that, but how?” Mona asked.

Ann pointed to a marble temple in the distance. 

“Go into that temple, and you’ll be teleported to the entrance of his temple. You’ll be met with some gates. Find a way to open them.”   
The group left Ann in the garden, and they made their way to the temple. From the outside, it looked like all the other temple entrances, but when they entered, it was dark and empty. The only light that came from it was from the doorway. They took a few steps into the temple when a slab of marble shut behind them, enclosing them in darkness. 

Just as quickly as the doors shut, the doors reopened. The group walked out and were met with gates that reached the top of the cave, sheltering an obsidian temple. 

“Ann was right. I sense something big beyond these gates.” Mona affirmed. 

“We can’t get in though…” Violet added.

“Why don’t return and consider our next step?” Queen suggested. 

They agreed, returned to the real world, and headed into Leblanc. The group made a beeline for the stairs, but Akechi lingered behind. With each step he took, he felt his feet fill with lead, weighing him down. He hadn’t been in the room since the meeting with Maruki. With each step up the stairs, his mind flashed with images of that night: Akira’s eyes, welling up with tears; Akira tugging on his sleeve, begging him to reconsider; the feeling of Akira’s lips against his; Akira tugging on his hair, pulling him closer, afraid he would disappear if he let go; and finally, Akira, heavily breathing as he lay under him on the bed, with bruises forming down his neck, trailing down his torso. Images of Akira’s counterpart then flashed through his head. Those eyes, so devoid of life were burned into his memory, just like the bloody glass eyed stare in the interrogation room. The mere thought that he was out there in that state fueled a fire. This wasn’t right. He shouldn’t be here; he has to leave. He has to go back into the palace and find a way through those gates. 

“AKECHI!” 

Akechi flinched and scanned the room in a panic. All eyes were on him. Shit. 

“Were you even listening?” Ann questioned. 

Before he could answer, Ryuji answered. “Doesn’t matter. I think we solved this.”

Akechi quizzically stared at the group, waiting for their solution. 

“Does Akira know you’re alive?” Yusuke asked. 

He shook his head, and a giant grin crossed Futaba’s lips.

“I hope you didn’t fully unpack your luggage.” She sang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been cackling at all your comments about dump truck Akechi. Istg I didn't mean to make him dummy thicc, but that's the stacked life, I guess?


	10. Error

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! A big warning here for extreme violence, lots of blood, suicidal idealizations, and overall mental breakdowns.

Recently, rumors of a vigilante began spreading through Akria’s hometown. People didn’t know their motives, but the stories and rumors of the vigilante were wild. One story told that the vigilante helped a group of kids from being taken by a local gang. The vigilante infiltrated their headquarters, took on 20 goons on their own before getting to the boss, and leaving them at a prosecutor’s office with all the evidence they needed to put them in jail. Another story told that the vigilante got off on breaking the kneecaps of corrupt police officers. However, the most concerning story told that the vigilante was possessed and always covered in blood. While many cheered for this figure, others saw them as an unstable threat to the public. When asked for his opinion on the matter, Akira shrugged. 

“It’s not traditional justice, but it’s swift, immediate, and well-deserved.”

In the night, people reported seeing a figure jumping rooftop to rooftop in the moonlight, but the figure was gone as quick as it appeared. Akira was on the prowl for a pair of officers that had been reported for assaulting people who work into the wee hours of the morning. He had been investigating them for the past few weeks, and he now had a good idea as to what their movements would be. All he had to do was meet them there.

He came upon an empty area, a popular spot where many of these violent groups frequented. All Akira had to do was hide and wait for someone to show up. Soon enough, the duo, a mustached male and a younger male, showed up with a, judging based on the uniform, local bartender in tow. They threw them to the ground and whipped out their batons. 

‘That’s my cue.’ 

Akira jumped down from the roof and landed in front of the trembling bartender, smirk crossing his lips. The mustached cop raised his baton at Akira. 

“Hey, you got a problem with us?” 

Akira took out his dagger. “No, but do you want one with me?” 

“You think you’re tough shit aren’t you, pretty boy?” The younger one quipped. 

The smirk on his lips grew. “Come and find out.”

The younger officer threw a punch at Akira, but instead of dodging, he took the punch square in the jaw. The bartender screeched in horror as Akira let out a haughty laugh. 

“Is that the best you got, coppers?!” 

Annoyed with his cocky attitude, the cop took out their taser. “Look at this little shit talking big, can’t even dodge a fucking punch.”

“Let’s just shut him up.” The mustached one responded, as he approached Akira.

Before Akira could react, the younger cop tased him, and the two men began kicking him, beating him with their batons, and laughing as they proceeded to continue to beat Akira until he was struggling for breath. 

Akira began softly laughing to himself. He relished in this feeling, playing with life and death. This was the high he was chasing for, but he needed a little bit more. Just a little bit more. Disgusted voices rang in his ear. 

“Oh, what the fuck?! HE’S GETTING OFF ON THIS!?” 

“Just shut him up!” 

A swift kick to his face took him over the edge. Adrenaline coursed his veins, the intoxicating sensation finally reached him. He finally felt alive. God, yes. Now he could really fight back. 

Akira grabbed the feet in front of him, twisted them, and threw the men on the ground before taking out his dagger and cutting into them. His blood dripped and began to mix in with the blood of the officers as their weakened pleas replaced the overconfident taunts. Akira paid it no mind, enjoying the sensation as he struggled to remain conscious. He was at peace. This is the high he was searching for. The danger, the thin line between life and death. God, how he missed feeling this rush. 

He continued his onslaught until the two men were unconscious. The wounds on their bodies weren’t lethal enough to kill them, but enough to incapacitate them for a while. Hopefully, this scared them from ever doing this stuff ever again. He scanned the area, and the bartender was gone. He let out a sigh of relief as he toppled over to the ground, adrenaline leaving his body. 

He couldn’t stay here. He was going to be discovered if he didn’t leave soon. He stumbled to his feet and took a few steps when black ooze appeared before him; the sight of the ooze paralyzed him with fear.

“No, not again.” He croaked as he watched the ooze take the form of the Phantom Thieves. 

“You’re still NOT tired of playing hero?” Ann chastised. 

“You’re really out here still playing hero after everything you’ve put us through?” Futaba whined. 

He grit his teeth, trying to find the strength to outwardly curse them out, but nothing came out. He didn’t have time to deal with them; he had to get to safety first. He stumbled out of the area, the figures right behind him. 

“Hey dude, it’s cool you wanna play hero. Why don’t you fix my leg instead?” Ryuji sneered.

“You wouldn’t be doing this if you had just given everyone a happy ending.” Sumire chided. 

Akira managed to find a narrow alley filled with trash bags, and he flopped onto it. The figures surrounded him, each of them with a wicked sneer or smug smirk on their face, relishing in his deplorable state. He shut his eyes, wishing them away, but to no avail. 

“Did that feel good, Mr. Hero? Saving people from big bad men? Being a heartthrob?” Morgana mocked. 

“It would’ve been better if those cops ended you.” Makoto sniped 

He had no choice but to lay there as their voices continued to fill his ears, black, distorted arms pulled on his limbs. A screech from the group made him slightly crack his eyes open.

A white light emerged from behind them to reveal Akechi, but unlike the rest of his friends, he had an angelic glow paired with a soft, genuine smile on his face. Was this a sign? Should he just stop fighting and just let go? Everyone would be happy if he was gone anyway. He could just join Akechi wherever he was. It’d be fine; at least they’d be together. He slowly raised his arm to reach out to Akechi, but Haru slapped his hand back down. 

“You dare seek out peace, knowing how we’re suffering because of you?!” Haru lectured. 

Black ooze came out from Haru’s palm and began enveloping Akira. The remaining strength he had was being sapped. He had nowhere to run. 

“You have some gall.” Yusuke added.

Defeated, he allowed himself to be consumed by the darkness. Dying here wouldn’t be so bad. No one was going to miss him anyway. All of a sudden, a bright light filled the area and exploded, destroying the black ooze and the Phantom Thieves. As exhaustion began to overtake him, Akira felt arms wrap around him, pulling him into a stiff, awkward hug, but it felt so warm, so familiar. It was something he missed. He groggily buried his head into the person’s chest as a hand ran through his hair, hesitantly playing with his blood dried curls. He leaned into the person’s touch, desperate for more before falling asleep in their hold.

“Shit.” Akechi muttered to himself. Limp bodies were not easy to carry around, especially a bloodied limp body. Nonetheless, he had to find a way to get the body to the room he was staying in without much suspicion. He sighed; this was one of the rare times he missed having Shido’s protection. 

Akechi surveyed Akira’s facial wounds, and with each wound, he felt a bubbling ire begin to pump through his veins. His focus shifted to the forming bruises around his eye and cheeks. He knew Akira was a capable fighter, both physically and mentally, so why was he this beat up? He rolled up the sleeves of his sweater and found a plethora of cuts, some poorly stitched together, blending in with the dried blood staining his skin. Rage now raced through his core. How could Akira just let this happen to him? He knew he was reckless, but this is something else.

Akechi took a deep breath, pinching his bridge as he exhaled, finding the strength to resist the temptation; he has more pressing matters to attend to. Akira had some semblance of common sense left, judging by his all-black ensemble, but his face was the real issue. He pulled out his handkerchief and carefully wiped the blood on his face before picking him up and carrying him to his room. 

He placed Akira on the tile flooring of the bathroom and ran a tepid bath. He discarded his sweater to reveal a plethora of bruises and poorly stitched wounds all over his body. He clicked his tongue before going over to his briefcase to pull out his medical kit. 

“Once we get you back to normal...you’re going to wish you had died in that interrogation room.” He muttered as he began fixing Akira’s wounds. 

Akira woke up in a cold sweat, panic overcoming him. He sat up, looked around, and noticed a figure in a familiar green sweater vest staring at the television.

“Don’t move too much. I fixed your shoddy stitching.” the figure chided. 

Upon hearing the voice, his stomach swelled up and a giant smile crossed his lips.

“Akechi?”

“Hmm?”

“Am I...dead?”

“No.”

Before Akira could ask for proof, Akechi walked over to Akira, grabbed his hands and placed them on his face. Akira poked and prodded at Akechi’s cheeks and hair, before burying his face into the crook of his neck, a stinging pain coming from his black eye. He felt at peace for a second, but flashes of Yaldabaoth and Maruki crossed his mind, and a pit in his stomach began to grow.

“Funny how things work out, huh Akira?” 

Akira’s grip on Akechi tightened as his blood began to boil upon remembering the deal with Maruki. Akechi winced, but raised his hand to run though his curls. Akira muttered something under his breath.

Akechi paused. “What?”

“They don’t stop playing with me…” Akira muttered “You’re not real…”

“I am.”

“Nonononononono, this is a sick joke from those good for nothing gods!” 

Akira pulled himself away from Akechi, biting down on his lip to prevent him from crying out in pain. He backed himself to the headboard of the bed, frantically looking around for a weapon to aim at the impostor. 

Akechi could only look on at the pathetic sight before him, fighting back the urge to chastise him and start a fight.This wasn’t the time to fight him. He dug his fingers into his skin, trying to quell his rage as Akira pointed a pen at him as he began to scream. 

“Who sent you!? Yaldabaoth?! Igor?! Philemon!?” 

“No one sent me..” 

“LIAR!” 

Akechi slammed his fist into the wall, tired of this absolute madness. “Akira! No one sent me!” 

Akira blinked at the sight before him before lying down and breaking out into a maniacal laugh, pointing up at the ceiling.

“Enjoying how the mighty Joker has fallen? Is this what you wanted, Yaldabaoth?!” He screamed in between his laughter. “Don’t you get joy from seeing me like this? Is this what you wanted?”

“It wasn’t enough for them to put the weight of the world on my shoulders, now they’re using everyone I love to punish me for picking wrong.” He mused. 

“You didn’t pick wrong Akira! We did the right thing!” Akechi countered. 

“WE DID THE WRONG THING! IF I HAD NEVER LISTENED TO YOU, YOU’D STILL BE ALIVE!” Akira cried.

“I AM ALIVE! YOU DID THE RI-!”   
Akira sat up, blood trickling out of his now open wounds, staining the bedsheets under him. 

“SHUT UP! I’M TIRED OF YOUR GAMES!” He pointed at Akechi. “I’m going to end everything. Then we’ll see what those gods have to laugh about.” 

Having heard enough, Akechi crawled over to Akira and pinned his arms above his head with an arm. Akira squirmed in his grasp, too weak to actually break out. 

“Let me go, you fake!” He spat. 

Akechi lowered himself to Akira’s face, breath hitting his lips, effectively shutting Akira up.

“Either you quit now while you’re ahead, or I will knock some sense into you.” Akechi lowly whispered as he hit Akira’s vagus nerve, rendering him unconscious. Akechi rose from the bed and frowned at the blood all over the bed. 

The sound of someone hitting the table echoed in the room, and Akechi turned, ready to strike. He left out a sigh of relief when he saw Lavenza, but he felt uneasy once he noticed her grim expression. 

“Harbinger. The deadline has been drastically moved up.”

“How much longer?”

“Tonight. It has to be tonight...” The hold on her grimoire tightened. “Like you, he has the power of the wildcard: He can utilize it to carve out his own desires...”

Akira looked at the unconscious Akira before looking at Lavenza, who began to fade away.

“Is there a way for me to get back to Tokyo?”

“You can enter his domain from here. He is the source of the distortion.” She finished as she disappeared.

Akechi immediately pulled out his phone and opened the group chat. 

‘Status report.’

‘Gates open n we found treasure’

‘We need to do it tonight.’

‘Wait what?!?!??!’

‘Akira’s planning to start an apocalypse tonight.’

‘What did you do!?’

‘Fix his pathetic attempt at sewing his own stitches’

‘Stitches?!’

‘That’s not important right now.’

‘WAIT’

‘Hows Akechi gonna get in if hes over there?????’

‘I can enter from here.’

‘How?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘Well….now we just need the calling card’

‘Akechi. We’ll leave it up to you.’ 

When Akira woke up, he found Akechi looming over him, a familiar red card in his hands. 

“What do you want?” he spat. 

Akechi threw the calling card at him.

“I’m bringing you back.” He simply stated as Akira read the card to himself, a grin growing on his lips as the room went dark. Lord Akira replaced Akira, staring at Akechi with that disdainful stare he gave his counterpart before he killed him. 

“Go ahead and try, prince.” He scoffed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY 11/20 EVERYONE! 
> 
> We're coming up on the end of MDNSY, so I just wanna thank everyone for your support! I have two chapters planned out before I wrap this up, so stay tuned for more! 
> 
> Happy Holidays!


	11. Heartkiller

Standing outside the now open gates, Crow felt nauseous. He didn’t know what to expect from the battle, nor did he know where the treasure was. The logical thing would’ve been to wait for the Phantom Thieves, but he couldn’t wait for them. He couldn’t afford to give Akira time to prepare for his attack. He had to get a head start; he had to do something, anything, to stall him. It was do or die, and he was ready for both.

When he reached the top, he found himself a little underwhelmed. He had envisioned a castle, full of traps and intricate mazes, but instead, he was met with a dying forest, filled with trees as pale and desolate as Akira’s skin. It didn’t surprise him; Akira had always been simple, but somehow always managed to make simple extraordinary. 

He walked through the forest, gun in hand, ready to shoot. After a few minutes of walking, he noticed a faint glow coming from the distance. He picked up his pace and soon found himself in a clearing surrounded by desolate trees, browned leaves, and right in the middle were two obsidian thrones, both embellished in silver.

More importantly, there was Akira, sprawled out on a throne, single-handedly tossing his dagger in the air. Akira turned his head at the sound of the crunching leaves and snapping twigs. His eyes widened as he let the dagger fall to the ground. They stared at each other, frozen at the sight of the other. 

Crow knew what he looked like, but to see his pale, ashy skin, sunken eyes, and overall grim demeanor up close was a sight in itself. That appearance was going to haunt his nightmares for a good while, not that he could say that he didn’t deserve to be haunted, but this was something else. Akira rose from his throne, never breaking eye contact with Crow, too afraid that he’d disappear if he blinked.

“I’ve missed you.”

“...Really? Given how you treated my double, I find that VERY hard to believe.”

Akira grimaced. “He wasn’t you. Too happy; lacked any real rage really. It disgusted me.”

Crow rolled his eyes, as a smug ‘I told you so, fuckwad’ ran through his head.  
Akira shook his head, chuckling to himself. Crow was sure he knew what he was thinking.

“Forget him. You’re here now.”

Akira extended his arm towards Crow.

“Join me.”

“What?”

“Join me; we can take revenge against Yaldabaoth and put the rest of them in their place.” 

Crow drew his blade. “No thanks. I’m here to bring you back to your senses.” 

Akira sighed. “I’ll probably end up knocking some into you.”

The two summoned their respective personas, Hereward and Arsense, before launching a series of attacks at each other. Sounds of clashing blades, frustrated grunts, and calling of attacks filled their ears. Akira tried to persuade Crow to his side. 

“Doesn’t it anger you that Yaldabaoth chose to fuck up your life for shits and giggles?”

Crow paid him no mind as he cast Eigaon. Akira matched his attack, creating a sea of red and black that did nothing but flood the desolate forest. They quickly went back to attacking via their persona’s weapons, but even then, none of them could land a clean hit on the other. In the midst of the attacks, Akira continued his appeal. 

“Don’t you want to get back at them? The same way you wanted to with Shido?”

The attacks ceased; both boys were now gasping for air, growing tired from the onslaught of energy they wasted. Akira recovered his breathing first and tried once again to sway Crow into his mindset.

“You can do this for her, too.”

Crow froze. Red hot rage began pumping through his veins. How DARE he use HER against him? The grip on his blade tightened as he towards Akira, ready to swing his blade right through Akira’s throat. Akira cooly stepped back, Crow’s blade missing him by mere centimeters. This infuriated him more than he already was, and he took another swing at Akira. 

“CROW!”

The duo froze and whipped their heads towards the sound. The Phantom Thieves have arrived. An amused smirk crossed Akira’s lips.

“Oh, you banded together with them? Hi guys.” 

Something was off in his voice; is that...contempt? Contempt for his friends? No, he must be mistaken. Akira would never, even if this wasn’t him. Akira isn’t like that. He values his friends over everything. 

“You need to stop this! This isn’t you!”

“What the hell do you know about me?!”

“You’re our leader! You give us strength!”

“...My point exactly. All you guys saw me as was your emotional punching bag. You only looked for me when things went to shit and you needed to vent, but the second your lives got fine and dandy, it’s like fuck Akira.”

“That’s not…”

“WHERE WERE YOU WHEN WE THOUGHT HE DIED ON THE SHIP?!”

“WHAT HAPPENED IN MARUKI’S REALITY?! YOU GUYS ALL FORGOT ABOUT ME!”

“WHAT ABOUT WHEN I GOT OUT OF JAIL? AFTER I WAS BEATEN AND DRUGGED BY  
THOSE COPS?!”

“WHAT ABOUT AFTER HE SHOT ME?!”

“You never asked if I was okay! You all assumed I was! GUESS WHAT? I’M NOT! I HAVEN’T BEEN FOR A WHILE!”

“Aki-”

“Save it! I don’t want your half-assed apologies. To think, I ACTUALLY FELT BAD THAT I DIDN’T TAKE MARUKI’S OFFER BECAUSE YOU GUYS LOOKED SO HAPPY.” 

With a wave of his hand, black ooze emerged from the ground and began to swirl around the group. Screams for personas echoed off the walls, but none came forward. The ooze negated persona summoning. Annoyed, Crow immediately shifted gears and ran towards the group, but when he propelled himself forward, he fell flat on his face. He turned and found himself held captive by the ooze that managed to bind his feet to the floor. When he tried to lift his blade to free himself, he found the ooze had spread to his wrists, fully binding him on the floor. 

All he could do was stare at Akira as he looked on at the Phantom Thieves in disdain. They returned his stare with varying states of horror, shock, and disbelief as they scrambled for a way out. The ooze began to creep up their bodies, pinning them down to the floor, as it consumed them, becoming one with the blob. Panicked pleas; panicked apologies; panicked promises escaped their lips, but Akira paid them no mind.

“The sight of you is revolting.” He flatly stated and with a wave of his hand, the Phantom Thieves were enveloped in the ooze. Their screams echoed off of the walls as they were swallowed by the darkness. 

“What did you do to them?!” 

“Does it matter? You never gave a fuck about them anyway.” 

“Why not take me with them?”

“I want you to see that what I’m doing is true justice; I want you to witness this victory.” 

“Arsene!” 

Akira grabbed Arsene’s chains and broke them. 

“This isn’t how we win; you know that.” 

Crow’s eyes widened at the sigh of Arsene, now engulfed in blue flames. Crow had only heard stories of Satanael’s size and his power, and after hearing them, he decided he never would do anything to invoke the wrath of the behemoth. Alas, here he was, defenseless against the power that can only rival gods. A few minutes ago he had hope he could somehow turn it around from his bindings, but now...now he had very little of it. Nonetheless, he had to keep trying, even if it was useless, even if he was face to face with the gargantuan Satanael. He wouldn’t stop trying to get through to him until the bitter end. 

“YOU’RE RUNNING AWAY!” Crow desperately cried, trying to get him to stop.

“SO WHAT?! I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!” Akira countered as Satanael aimed his gun towards the heavens, charging for an attack. 

“YOU THINK I DID?!” 

“I CAN FIX IT IF Y-”

“THERE IS NO FIXING THIS, AKIRA! WE HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD!”

“This is forward.”

Akira gave the order, tired of bickering, and fear filled Crow’s being. The realization that he never had a shot; he couldn’t stop him hurt. Akira had won the second he trapped him in the ooze. He just dragged him along for the sake of the drama. All Crow could do now was lock eyes with Akira’s cold ones as Satanael pulled the trigger towards the heavens.

The bullet tore through the ground above them and an explosion was heard in the distance. Satisfied, Akira once again gave Satanael the order to begin charging for his next attack.

“YOU HAVE TO STOP THIS!” 

Akira jumped down from Satanael, landed in front of Crow and knocked him out, tired of his nagging. 

“It’ll be better when you wake up” was all Crow heard before closing his eyes, sound beginning to fade as everything went black. 

His eyes shot open and were met with a glaring light illuminating him. He looked up, noticing that the light was coming from the gaping hole Akira made in the walls of the Underworld.He didn’t realize that the light evaporated the black ooze in it’s glow, until he sat up in shock.

Akira, infuriated by the turn of events, drew his pistol and began shooting at Crow. Each bullet was deflected by the shining light illuminating him. Crow found his strength returning and straggled to his feet before ripping off his mask, happy that he had a chance to finally fight back with his power. 

“HEREWARD!” 

The black armored persona didn’t phase Akira in the slightest. Instead, he shot Crow a lopsided smile, silently mocking him, daring him to do his worst. Crow gave the order for Hereward to shoot his arrows, but they were easily deflected by a wave of Satanael’s gun before he began to charge for his next attack. 

Hereward’s attacks were relentless, but none of them were able to land a damaging hit on Satanael, let alone Akira. As his strength returned, he contemplated leaving the ooze, but he also harbored a fear that the second he stepped out of the light, Akira would bind him again with ooze. He couldn’t run that risk, not when he was given a chance to actually fight back; however, it made landing a hit very easy for Akira. 

“Do it.” Satanel’s gun fired and went right through Hereward, leaving a gaping hole through his chest. Crow fell to his knees, gasping for breath as Hereward began to crack. The light on Crow began to concentrate on Hereward. The light converged into the gaping hole left in Satanael’s wake, and it began to course through the cracks as Hereward began to crumble. Crow fell to his knees, fighting for breath as he faded in and out of consciousness once again. 

A soft voice rang through his ears as the image of his cognitive counterpart appeared in his mind. 

‘It looks like he hasn’t given up. Let’s give him a push.’

A soft breath escaped from on Crow’s lips. Akira never ceased to amaze him, even as he allowed the darkness to take over. He always had hope, and now, he was going to give it back to him. With newfound strength, Crow stumbled to his feet once again. 

“COME FORTH, RAGUEL!” He choked through gasps as he ripped off his helmet.

The prince disappeared from his thoughts, and a pair of wings shot out from Hereward’s wound before they enveloped him. When they opened again, a gold and black armored, blood-stained angel armed with a helmet with one angel wing and one demon wing and a matching armored bow replaced Hereward. 

Panicked, Akira ordered Satanael to charge his attack one again; calmly, Crow ordered Raguel to charge his attack.

“SINFUL SHELL!” 

“EXORCISM BOW!”

They both let their attacks go at the same time and clashed in the middle. Both boys braced themselves for an impact, waiting for the battle to play out. Seconds later, Raguel’s arrow ripped through the bullet and pierced Satanael’s chest. Upon impact, Akira fell to his knees and let out a blood curdling scream before falling face first into the ground.

Satanael, much like Hereward before him, began to crumble, and Akira fell to his knees, heaving for breath. Satanael’s limbs fell around Akira, dispersing into black ooze when it hit the floor. Humanoid figures began to creep out of the ooze, and as Crow readied Raguel for another attack, the Phantom Thieves emerged from the confines of it. 

“What happened?” 

Crow motioned at Akira’s limp body.

“It doesn’t matter; it’s over.” Crow answered as Raguel dispersed. In its stead, a ball of light fell into Crow’s hands. Without missing a beat, Mona leaped with joy.

“Treasure!”

The group shot Mona doubtful stares. 

“I feel it in my bones!” 

“It’s a...light.” Skull cautiously commented. 

“It’s hope.” Crow confirmed. 

Without warning, the ball exploded. Next thing they knew, they were back in the real world. The Phantom Thieves were back in Tokyo; Akechi found himself in an empty lot with no sign of a treasure. He paid it no mind and shoved his cold hands in his pockets. He felt a leather material in his pockets. Alarmed, he pulled out his hand with a single familiar leather glove in his grasp. 

He couldn’t believe it. Even after Maruki confirmed that he would not live if they restored their timeline, he still held on hope that he’d return. The entire world had forgotten about his existence, and yet, there was Akira, holding on to hope that he’d come back. 

The weight of the implications came crashing down on him, bringing him to his knees, as he cried his heart out in the dead of night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case anyone wants to see what I was kinda imagining when creating Raguel, here's a quick sketch: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ep4JCX8UYAMcIm-?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
> 
> Happy Holidays!


	12. May Death Never Stop You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -The End-
> 
> Warnings for: violence & suicidal idealizations

It had been days since the showdown in the Underworld. For the most part, everything went back to normal, and there were no consequences to Akira’s shot to the metaverse’s heavens. At this point, he believed it was very likely that Raguel’s summoning was a retaliation from the deities, but there was no confirmation, and Akechi had no time to dwell on that. The palace was gone, so was the ability to enter the metaverse. 

When Akechi returned to the room, Akira was already gone, a pool of dried blood on his bed was all that was left of his existence. Akechi searched for him, but was unable to find him. It didn’t worry him too much; Akira’s too similar to a cat, so he paid it no mind, knowing that he’d appear, eventually.

This didn’t stop the texts from the Phantom Thieves bombarding his phone, asking for daily status updates even though he told them he’d let them know if he found him.

Akechi sat in his room, leafing through some files he brought with him when a notification popped up on his phone: 0X-XXXX-XXXX is sharing their location with you. Without missing a beat, Akechi grabbed his coat before walking out the door.

Outside of the cafe stood Akira, anxiously looking around, waiting, hoping for someone to show. Their eyes met, and before he knew it, Akira had him enveloped in a bone breaking hug.

“You’re. Crushing. Me.” 

Akira buried his face in Akechi’s shoulder as he tightened his hold on him. Akechi tensed in his hold, not used to such blatant affection, but didn’t fight it in the slightest. It was warm, welcoming even, but it was such a foreign feeling that his brain short-circuited trying to figure out how to reciprocate the display. When Akira let go, all Akechi could do was awkwardly pat Akira’s head before going into the cafe.

They situated themselves into a booth. Before Akechi could say anything, Akira slid him a menu and hid himself behind his own. They made their respective orders, and they sat in silence. Akira, still hiding behind a menu he kept in case he wanted something to-go, avoided Akechi’s piercing stare by starting a conversation about the pastries that would make a great midnight snack. Having none of it, Akechi leaned over and slammed the menu onto the table. Lo and behold, Akechi’s frustrated glare met Akira’s unamused, deadpan stare. Akechi sighed. 

“Are you going to ignore the situation?”

“Here? Yes. Somewhere private? No.” Akira deadpanned as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. Akechi leaned back into his seat, a little annoyed, but a lot less tense now that he had Akira’s word.

Two sets of coffee and pastries came to the table. Each took their respective coffee and pastry before seamlessly falling back into old habits. Only this time, Akira led the philosophical discussion.

“Say you’re in a trolley, an-”

“I’m stopping you right there.”

“Come on, humor me.” 

Akechi took a sip of his drink, rolling his eyes. Akira grinned, excitedly leaning forward on the table before asking:

“Me or 5 random people?”

Akechi raised an eyebrow. “Depends. Have you done something to piss me off recently?”

Akira loudly slurped on his coffee, sheepishly looking around as Akechi let out a snort at his reaction, trying to fight the urge to laugh. This...this felt nice. In Maruki’s reality, they got a taste of this and longed for a day where they’d be able to enjoy each other's company without any impending doom looming in the back of their heads. However, doom never stopped them from wholeheartedly enjoying their outings; they just wished that the sacrifice wasn’t so steep, but now all their anxieties, and all of their what ifs are off the table. Now, they could truly be. 

It’s as if the divine forces were apologizing or were bestowing them a reward for besting them. Either way, it was welcomed. No matter what way they’d spin it, at the end of the day, they earned it, and they’d fight to keep it. 

When they exited the cafe, they were met with a cold, blistering wind. Without saying a word, Akechi led a complaining Akira to the room he was staying in. Getting him there was easy, but getting Akira to talk about himself was a feat in itself. He was so used to bottling his thoughts and emotions in order to focus on his need to please others and not burden them that it became almost impossible for him to vent.

“I don’t know Akechi. I just...I just…” “I’m not used to talking ‘bout myself.” 

“Then don’t. Tell me what happened.” 

They sat in silence, Akira holding on to Akechi's hand, rubbing circles on his palm.

“I got lonely.”

Akira told Akechi about everything that happened starting after they defeated Maruki. All Akechi could do was listen as he watched him unravel all the weight that dragged them down to the Underworld. 

Everyone decided to move on to bigger, better ventures. He was going back home, but they promised they’d stay in touch. He hoped that when he went back home with a clean record, people would’ve forgotten about him. When he did go back home, he soon realized that nothing had changed. The erasure of his record did nothing for the people back home. Everyone still treated him like a dangerous criminal. At school, people did try talking to him, but he could see the fear in their eyes. At home, his parents were indifferent towards him, at best. At worse, they treated him like a stain on their reputation, ignoring him or telling him to get out of their sight.

He clung to the group chat, hoping that at least his friends would give him some semblance of human decency, but their responses were sparse, filled with apologies because they got too busy and forgot. He understood, but it stung.

While he had Morgana around, there wasn’t much he could with him without raising a lot of suspicion. While he wasn’t used to talking to Morgana about his problems, having Morgana around on the days where his parents were horrid helped a bit. Morgana did press him a couple of times to talk, but he couldn’t bring himself to talk. How could he? He was so used to putting others before himself that talking about himself found itself to be much more challenging than he thought. 

It was days like that where he found himself wishing someone would just look at him and understand what went on in his head. Then he’d remember Akechi was dead, and the pangs of guilt struck. He couldn’t save him. He, the savior of humanity’s free will, had to sacrifice the one closest to him to save the world.

Now that he thought about it, his friends were happier in the alternate reality. Sure, no one had free will, but everyone was happy with what they were doing, and they were none the wiser. Doubt began to grow in the back of his head. 

Did he do the wrong thing?

Did they think him cruel for ripping them from their wildest hopes and dreams?

He started to believe that his friends secretly hated him for doing the right thing. 

To cope, he found himself seeking some semblance of normalcy in his life. The only thing he could think of was the constant shots of adrenaline high he got from going into Mementos, palaces, and even in his encounters with police and Akechi. What did all of those things have in common? Violence. 

He began assaulting random thugs around town, chasing that high, wanting to feel some semblance of normalcy. It worked. It gave him such a blissful high, but soon enough, he grew accustomed to it. He needed a bigger danger, so he started fighting local gangs and crooked cops with hopes that they’d pull firearms on him.   
Soon after, the shadows of his friends began to appear, repeating his darkest thoughts and wishing death upon him. In response, he let them beat him to a pulp. He wanted their approval, and he started to believe it was the right thing to do. He had to atone for bringing death to the hopes and dreams of billions.This was his cross to bear. 

“I just wanted to do the right thing.” Akira finished; his head now planted right in the middle of Akechi’s thighs with Akechi playing with his curls. 

“You did.”

“I know. Thanks.” Akira took Akechi’s hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of his hand. Akechi’s face flushed with the brightest red as he ripped his hand away from Akira’s grasp. 

“You’re in no condition to go further than this.”

“Oh? We were going to go all the way?”

“Shut up.”

They spent the rest of the night catching up, and talking about what Akechi had been up to since he found himself alive bypassing sleep trying to make up for lost time in the short amount of time they had left together.

There’s something about departing with loved ones at a train station that brings out dramatic gestures in people. The duo knew this was just something that’s more common in movies, but Akechi couldn’t help himself.

“Here. Your treasure.”

Akechi pulled out the glove he had been holding on to, and a smile grew on Akira’s face as he took it, fully aware that this time, he’d come find him for it.

“This is the last time I’m taking it from you.” 

“Oh?”

The smile turned into a smirk before whispering: “Next time, I want a ring.”

“Rather bold of you to assume we’re going to last long enough for that.” Akechi deadpanned, and Akira brought the back of his hand to his forehead. 

“You wound me, sir.”

Akechi rolled his eyes at his dramatic outburst, before remembering something.

“Oh! I al-” Akechi began, but was interrupted by the PA system announcing the train was approaching. Akira blinked at him, waiting for the voice to stop.

“Therapy. You need it.” Akechi finished, and Akira quickly deflected the comment with a laugh, but Akechi shot him a pointed stare. 

“...fine! I’ll start looking.”

“A qualified one that doesn’t create a false reality would be great.” Akechi chided before walking towards the train. Akechi felt a tug on his wrist.

“Aki-” He started as he began to turn around to chide the raven head, but was cut off by a kiss on his lips. Akira’s hands found themselves on Akechi’s cheeks, pulling him closer to him, smiling against his lips as Akechi’s face turned a bright red at the blatant PDA.

“One for the road.”

The rest of the year was spent with the court arguing the level of Akechi’s involvement with Shido and the extent of his crimes. By the end of it all, the courts let Akechi off with a slap on the wrist due to him being a minor when he began working for Shido; they did quietly add a few more years to Shido’s sentencing for involving minors. While Akechi wasn’t satisfied with it, he knew there wasn’t any point in arguing with them. The only thing he could do now was be better.

In the aftermath, Akira heeded Akechi’s advice, and when he was ready, he reached out to his friends. They made their amends with each other, and kept in touch. Akira finished up high school and began making plans to move to Tokyo for college. Akechi, on the other hand, was having trouble adjusting to the fact that he was alive past 18 and had to move forward. 

It was then Akira suggested college as a way to do something “productive”, and as a way to find some sort of direction in his life. It wasn’t a bad idea; it was miles better than anything he could ever come up with, so he applied for the next available semester. Akira had taken to going over to Akechi’s apartment to help him with the entire process, and it got to the point where Akechi suggested that he move into his place since he pretty much lived there.

What Akechi didn’t realize was that this was all a part of Akira’s plan to keep him nearby. Akira had been living in his apartment for half a year when it dawned on him. He was too busy dealing with life that he didn’t think that Akira would have ulterior motives. When Akechi accused him of this, they were lying in bed, and all Akira could do was wrap his arms around Akechi, relishing in his warmth, laughing into his chest. All Akechi could do was run his fingers through Akira’s hair with a soft smile on his lips, content with everything in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAA!
> 
> IT'S FINISHED! Thank you everyone for reading, for your kind comments, kudos, and just overall support!  
> I didn't think I'd finish it at some points, but here we are. ;___;
> 
> Again, thank you all so much!


End file.
